


We're gonna look after you, Kid

by Venetia5



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: And he's the youngest, And poor time dad!Rip, Death to watermelons, Everyone looks after Jax, He's like the little brother of eveyone, Jax-centric, Kendra acts like his unofficial mother, Legends as a family, Multi, Poor Jax, Ray Palmer/Leonard Snart hinted at, So they all feel kinda protective, big brother!Leonard Snart, mama bird and honorary baby bird, mama bird and papa bird, pansexual jax, protective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2018-05-21 23:12:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6061672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venetia5/pseuds/Venetia5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the tumblr post:<br/>http://the-bastard-jon-snow.tumblr.com/post/138928963689/okay-but-all-the-guys-protectiveness-over-jax</p><p>Jax finds that being the youngest member on board the Waverider can be problematic. Especially when you've suddenly been co-opted as the "little brother" of the team.</p><p>Or,</p><p>Everyone feels protective towards Jax because he's the youngest, and also the least experienced. I mean, he was just a college-age kid running around with two super-smart scientists who can't keep their opinions themselves, one badass super-assassin with blood lust, two thieves who seem to lack morals, two Egyptian hawk demigods with anger issues, and the captain of the spaceship who seems to be a compulsive liar. Was it really that surprising when the others began to worry about him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fight Training

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this was all started by a flurry of posts that appeared on my tumblr dashboard about the team acting protectively towards Jax, and the way that Leonard and the other guys seemed to act protectively, and it spiraled out of control from there. 
> 
> In this version, Kendra used some reincarnation hippy mumbo jumbo voodoo to restore Carter to his body, and he's up and walking about, cause it's kind of inevitable that he'll turn up again at some point. (And if he doesn't, I'll be eternally pissed).
> 
> Also, you should seriously check out 'Legends Family: Early Morning' by sansasnarks. That's provided some inspiration for parts of this fic. Check it out at:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/5894992
> 
> I have no beta at the minute, so all mistakes made are mine. I regret nothing (hopefully).

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Jax sometimes wondered if there was someone out there that he’d seriously pissed off who had decided to make his life hell for the foreseeable future. It could be only the explanation for why his alarm clock was blaring obnoxiously loudly at … 6am! He was tempted to ask Kendra whether or not Savage was capable of casting curses, and if he’d be petty enough to cast one on Jax.

CRASH!

Jax swept his arm out, trying to hit the snooze button, but succeeded in knocking the infernal thing off his bedside table instead. He groaned into his pillow, his face hurting slightly from where it was mashed into the soft fabric.

“Mr. Jackson, Ms. Lance and Mr. Hall have requested that you meet them in training room on the lower deck for weapons training.” Gideon’s annoyingly cheerful voice chimed overhead, making Jax regret deciding to stay on the ship.

“Well you can kindly inform them that I ain’t getting up this early just to get my ass kicked,” Jax mumbled sleepily into his pillow, his brain not quite processing what had just spilled from his mouth until Gideon chirpily replied, “Of course, Mr. Jackson.”

“No! Gideon, wait!” Jax shot bolt upright. Pissing off a super-assassin and a hawk demigod was not the way he wanted to end up dying. He didn’t want to die, period.

“Ms. Lance and Mr. Hall have asked me to inform you that they will be here in approximately three minutes to drag you down to training, ‘whether you like it or not’, Mr. Jackson.”

Jax groaned and flopped back onto the bed. Great. He considered refusing to get up, but that would probably end with Sara dragging him out of bed, and Carter hauling him down to the training room. He pulled the duvet over his head and wondered where his life had gone so wrong. Oh, yeah, a football field a few years ago. Right. Jax winced as he heard the door hiss open, and two sets of footsteps entered the room he shared with Ray, who was conspicuously absent, and had been since the night before. In fact, the last time Jax had seen him, he’d been talking to Snart…

“Jax.”

He’d managed to get lost in his thoughts, and had somehow forgotten that two very deadly people were currently standing in his room, both tapping their feet impatiently. If Jax actually dared to look up from underneath the duvet, he’d probably see matching expressions, with their arms crossed, looking faintly annoyed. He should probably remember to filter what he says to them.

“Jax, get out from the covers,” Sara said (more like commanded), a hint of irritation colouring her voice. Yeah, he really had to watch what he said to them.

“Jefferson,” came Carter’s stern voice. “Don’t try to pretend you’re asleep. You know the deal. Sara and I train you, and you get to come along on missions.”

“Come on, man, it’s six in the morning! Normal people don’t get up this early. Can we do this later?” Jax groaned, burying himself further into the sheets. There was no way in hell that he was getting out his nice, warm, comfortable bed this early.

No way.

 

* * *

 

“OW! Seriously, what the hell, man?!”

“Focus, Jax. Keep your guard up, concentrate, but remember that there will be others around you that will attack you,” Carter instructed as he continued his barrage of blows, accentuating his directions with blows to exposed areas on Jax’s already sore body.

“You need to be aware of the movements your opponents are making. Always be aware of your surroundings and where your opponents are,” Sara added as she delivered a blow to his back, causing him to stumble forwards into Carter, who delivered a swift punch to his ribs while he tried to regain his balance.

“Focus.”

 

* * *

 

Half an hour later saw Jax staring at the grey ceiling of the room, lying flat on his back in the middle of the mats, counting the steel bolts in the beams across the ceiling. He distantly wondered whether heaven would have a football stadium, and chocolate ice cream, and warm chocolate fudge brownies, and a couple of super-cars, and some wrenches…

His daydreaming was interrupted when both Sara and Carter loomed above him, blocking his view.

“Do you think he’s dead?” Sara asked, peering curiously at Jax’s prone form. He groaned in response, causing Sara to add, “Or almost dead?” Jax groaned again.

“Ok Jax. Let’s get you some breakfast,” Carter said, and Sara and Carter both extended their arms out to him. Jax felt too sore to even speak, let alone drag himself up off the floor. He tried to give them a look that resembled annoyance and disbelief, but he was pretty sure it came out as more of a grimace. How exactly did they expect him to move after they’d well and truly kicked his ass?

Carter glanced at Sara, who nodded her head in response to some sort of unanswered question, and they both turned their attention back to Jax. Sara moved off slightly to the side, disappearing from Jax’s view. Carter stooped down, and hooked his arms around Jax, before hauling him of the floor, and slinging him over his shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing man?” Jax demanded slightly hysterically.

“Would you rather walk?”

“No,” Jax replied grudgingly after a few beats on silence. Glancing up, he saw Sara trailing after them, training gear in hand and an amused smirk on her face.

After a brief stop at the MedBay for some painkillers for Jax, the trio continued towards the kitchen, where the rest of the team was preparing breakfast (or in Ray’s case, halfway through shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth while explaining some theory about the science of the suit).

However, as they entered, all conversation ceased and thick silence blanketed the room. You probably could have heard a pin drop. Even Ray’s incessant chatter had stopped, which was a miracle in itself.

“Did you actually kill the kid?” Snart piped up from the breakfast bar, eyeing Jax’s body over Carter’s shoulder with slight concern, though he’d never admit that he was worried for the kid.

“Don’t worry, Len, he’s just fine,” Sara said, at which point Jax groaned in protest. He was not _just fine_ , as Sara put it. He was about as far from _just fine_ as you could get. “Ok, well maybe not fine. It was his first fight without his powers. He just needs food and some rest.”

Carter set Jax down into the chair next to Ray, making sure not to jostle the kid too much. Kendra glared at Carter when Jax groaned again, silently asking him what he’d done; Carter shrugged in response, and the scowl that Kendra levelled at him would have had lesser men quaking in their shoes. Carter, however, was immune. He’d lived with her for a couple of hundred lifetimes, and wasn’t as affected by his soulmate’s glares as others were. However, he’d be sure to explain to Kendra exactly why it was necessary to train Jax.

After the fiasco when they’d gone to retrieve Carter’s body, where Jax hadn’t been able to merge with Firestorm, and Sara had seen him literally football tackle one of Savage’s men, it had been unanimously decided by the rest of the team that Jax wouldn’t be allowed back out into the field until he’d had some proper training. The rest of the team knew how defend themselves fairly well, even Stein, who didn’t usually accompany them when he didn’t need to anyway. Even Ray had some basic self-defence, and Sara was pretty sure that Snart was giving Ray some…extra tuition in regards to fighting…and probably some other stuff that Sara didn’t want to know about too.

Kendra moved to get some fresh orange juice from the fridge, pouring it into one of the glasses, and placing it in front of Jax, while Rip dished up some more eggs for the three arrivals. Kendra sat herself on Jax’s other side and rubbed his shoulder soothingly, coaxing him into eating his breakfast. Jax’s muscles screamed in protest at even the simplest movements. Sara and Carter really had done a number on him. Perhaps this would mean that he’d get a few days off training.

“You alright, Jax?” Ray asked when he saw him wince for the fifth time in two minutes.

“Those two are insane,” was Jax’s only response. Kendra had only allowed him to take the painkillers after he’d finished half of his food, stating that the directions said he had to take it with food, and that they didn’t need him to feel even worse.

“Ok, that’s it. You’re resting for a couple of days. Carter, shut up,” Kendra announced with an air of finality. She leveled another glare at him when he opened his mouth, and he quickly shut up and closed it with a clack of his teeth, reminding Jax of a fish slightly.

“Kid did well. I guess he deserves some time to rest,” Sara commented from where she was slouched against the kitchen island.

Jax felt quite proud of himself after Sara’s comment. After all, she was a secret super-assassin, and even though she’d kicked his ass, she still thought he’d done well.

“Yeah, I guess,” Carter grudgingly conceded. “You did well, Jax. But next time, you should –”

“Carter!”


	2. Criminal sojourns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Or the one where Jax is probably going to be grounded until he's 40, Mick and Leonard lack morals, and Rip is getting fed up of people hijacking his jump ship. Seriously, it's his ship for gods sake.

“But clearly, if we adjusted the differential settings to the regulator, and added another circuitry loop, then we could avoid the temporal paradox…” Jax tuned out as Ray continued to debate with Stein the pros and cons of modifying his suit yet again.

He was bored. And tired. And a bit irritable.

Rip was busy going over some plan with Kendra, Sara and Carter that would probably get them all killed, or at least maimed and seriously injured, and Jax didn’t want to interrupt them, unless he specifically heard the words, “Jax is going to die.” Rip had already shooed him out of the ‘command centre’ once, stating that he needed to consult the others about ‘tactical advantages’ (i.e. who was going to be thrown under the bus this time).

He glanced back over to the ‘command centre’ (it still sounded stupid), and saw that they were all huddled round Dr. Boardman’s diary and a bunch of schematics. _Still busy,_ he decided.

Jax was deciding whether or not he should bother going back to bed and getting some more sleep. Carter and Sara had decided to continue their training regime, and he now found himself being woken up by Gideon’s stupidly chipper voice at 6 am _every morning_. He really hated his life sometimes. And Stein. It was his fault that Jax was here in the first place.

Jax looked up curiously as Snart and Rory entered the room. The last he’d heard, they were going off to fix up their guns, or something like that. The pair continued to approach Jax, and he suddenly wondered exactly what it was that they wanted from him now. Last time, they’d managed to convince him to commandeer the jump ship, and sit there while they stole a priceless emerald in Central City. That little field trip had earned him at least four separate lectures by Rip, Kendra, Carter and Stein, while Ray had simply looked disappointed in him, and Sara had shot a look at the two thieves that practically screamed that they’d all be having words later.

“Hey, kid, how do you feel like helping us out?” Leonard sat down on one side of Jax, while Mick placed himself on the other side, boxing him in. This couldn’t be good.

“Doing what?”

“We need you to fly the ship to the museum in Starling City in 1986 so we can steal a necklace,” was Mick’s gruff reply, and Jax turned to fix him with an incredulous look.

“No. No way. Not after last time, man. I’m still ‘grounded’, if you’ve forgotten, and I’m not gonna get lectured by the others again. So no way. And I’m not a thief, either, or a get-away driver,” Jax protested vehemently. There was no way he was getting in trouble because of those two again.

“Listen, kid, think of it as a tiny favour. We’ll take the heat this time. And really, are you doing anything else right now?”

Jax cursed Snart and his persuasiveness. The man could probably convince Rip to hand over the Waverider to him, and probably strip naked and streak while he was at it. But he did have a point. Jax was bored, and the others probably wouldn’t even notice that they were gone.

“Ok. Where and when exactly are we going?”

 

* * *

 

“Captain Hunter, I thought that you would like to be informed that the jump ship has left the lower hanger bay,” Gideon relayed the information to Rip and the rest of the team.

“And who exactly is on that ship, Gideon?” Rip asked exasperatedly. He was going to airlock them all. Well, he would, if he actually had an airlock, which he didn’t, but he was very tempted just to strand them in 1986, and leave with the rest of the team to stop Savage. He might pick them up on the way back. If he was in a good mood. If.

“Mr. Snart, Mr. Rory, and Mr. Jackson, Captain Hunter.”

He was going to kill them.

“When and where exactly have they gone, Gideon?”

“The jump ship logs show that Mr. Jackson set a course for Starling City, October 15th 1986, Captain.”

“Gideon, set a course to follow those idiots.”

“By ‘those idiots’, would you be referring to Mr. Snart, Mr. Rory, and Mr. Jackson, Captain?”

“Has anybody else commandeered a jump ship recently, Gideon? No, wait, don’t answer that. Yes, just follow them, please, Gideon.”

He might just set the others on the trio first before he killed them, because he was fairly sure that there would be at least one casualty judging by the looks on the rest of the Legends' faces.

“I’m going to kill him.”

 

* * *

 

The jump ship touched down behind an abandoned warehouse a couple of blocks from the museum. Jax stood up to follow Mick and Leonard as they exited the jump ship, but Leonard pushed him back down into his seat.

“Not this time, kid. Maybe when you’re older,” was all he said before he followed his partner, weapons in hand, whistling as he went.

Jax waited for about five minutes before he decided that this was all complete bullshit, and followed the pair of thieves. There was no way that he was being left behind again. He was getting kinda tired of that. He was almost certainly going to be lectured, and he was damned if he gonna get shouted at just for sitting in the ship. If he was gonna be lectured anyway, he might as well make the most of his time in 1986.

He hung back slightly as he saw the silhouettes of Snart and Rory up ahead. Just because they were thieves and they were the ones who’d dragged him along, that didn’t mean that they’d refrain from telling him off and sending him back to the ship.

He watched in fascination as Snart blasted the lock with his gun, before smashing it and breaking into the museum. When they were both inside, Jefferson made a quick dash across the street, and peered into the entrance, checking that the coast was clear, before hurrying inside.

He gazed around in awe at all of the beautiful, and doubtless very valuable, pieces of artwork and gems on display. He’d never really been on a trip to a museum before. He’d missed the only field trip his school had gone on to the museum, and his mom had never had the time to take him on a day trip.

Jax ducked behind a wall as he heard Rory and Snart’s voices echoing above him. It sounded like they were at least a couple of floors above him, so he was probably safe for the minute. However, when he stepped out from behind his hiding place, he realised his mistake.

He’d been so focused on trying not to draw Rory and Snart’s attention that he’d completely missed the presence of the security guard, who was stood about twenty feet in front of him, brandishing a rather large gun.

“Freeze!”

Jax raised his hands in surrender as the guard began to walk towards him, his gun still trained on the poor teen.

When the guard realised the Jax had no weapon, and wasn’t about to try and run and get shot in the back for his trouble, he took out his rather handily available handcuffs, and holstered his gun. He snapped the handcuffs onto Jax’s wrists in front of him, and began to reach for his radio.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The guard still, and his eyes widened in shock, and he realised that there was a man behind him. A man with an even larger gun than his. Jax didn’t think he’d ever been so relieved to see a thief in his life, especially when that thief was Mick Rory, a pyromaniac with issues about morals (he didn’t have any).

The guard turned around slowly, and raised his own hands in a rather funny parody of Jax’s own surrender. Mick smiled slightly, before punching the guard squarely in the face.

“Hey, kid. You ok?”

Jax just nodded, a feeling of relief crashing through his body. He wasn’t quite sure what he would’ve done if he’d been arrested in 1986. He was pretty sure that the team wasn’t quite up for another prison break any time soon. He was also pretty sure that if his mom had ever found out, she probably would have killed him herself. Or grounded him until he was 40. Jax wasn’t quite sure which was worse.

“Ok, team, let’s head out,” Leonard Snart sauntered out of the shadows, holding a glittery and rather expensive looking purple necklace. He pocketed the piece of jewellery, and gestured towards Jax. “Mick, could you help the kid out?”

Mick nodded, and for a moment Jax thought that Mick was going to help him out of the cuffs. Or blast them off. He wouldn’t put it past Mick to think of doing that. He briefly wondered what incineration would feel like when he wasn’t Firestorm. He was startled out of his thoughts when Mick hauled him over his shoulders.

“Whoa, wait, what? Why are you carrying me, man?”

“You seem to end up…wandering off, whenever you’re let out, kid. Call it a precaution,” was Snart’s only answer.

 

* * *

 

“Well, well, well, fancy meeting you guys here.” Jax heard Snart’s voice call out, and he looked up to see the rest of Legends staring at the three of them, expressions ranging from disbelief to annoyance to pure anger. Jax gulped. This wasn’t going to go well.

“Would you lot care to explain what exactly it is that you think you’re doing?” Rip questioned, but he didn’t them a chance to reply before he steamrollered them with his rant. “You hijack my jump ship, make an unauthorised time jump, and then rob a museum, and – is that man unconscious? Do you have any idea how much damage you could be doing to the timeline?!”

Jax felt that he could probably compare Rip’s anger to that nuclear explosion right now. All he needed now was steam pouring out of his ears, and he could probably pass as a comic book character.

“Not to mention the fact that we’re wasting valuable time, having to chase you around space and time, and that you dragged Jefferson along with you on your little criminal sojourn, who, by the way, is in very big trouble. No. Don’t try and defend yourselves. This is the second time you’ve done something like this. Listen to me, and listen carefully. There will be no more hijacking of my ship, there will be no more little illicit trips to steal priceless artefacts and gems, and there will be no more dragging Jefferson into dangerous situations. Is that clear?”

Snart and Rory nodded, slightly dumfounded. Who knew that time dad had that in him?

Rip gestured for them all to follow him back to the ship, which Jax assumed was probably parked (Do you _park_ a spaceship?) where they’d left the jump ship.

“You two are so dead,” Kendra whispered as she glared at Mick and Leonard, huffing and crossing her arms when Leonard smirked at her.

“Who’s gonna kill us, princess? You or your boyfriend?”

“No, that’d be me,” Sara announced as she swept past them, her hair swaying slightly as she sauntered ahead, and began talking in a low voice to Rip. Jax could’ve sworn that he saw Leonard swallow slightly at that.

“And Jax, how could you, especially after last time? You could’ve been seriously hurt, or even arrested. What were you thinking?” Kendra asked, concern colouring her voice, and she shot a worried glance at the young man still hanging off Mick’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Kendra.” Jax felt slightly ashamed, but really, it wasn’t his fault. Kind of not his fault. Ok, maybe slightly fault, but it was really Len and Mick who had coerced him. “I was just…bored.”

“You were bored, so you decided to help two criminals rob a museum?” Carter’s disapproval could probably be heard by a deaf man, and Jax definitely wasn’t deaf. “Not a great idea, kid.”

(Jax could’ve sworn that he heard Len hiss at Carter, “That’s my nickname for him.”

“I have to agree with Mr. Hall and Miss Saunders, Jefferson. It was an incredibly reckless thing to do. After all, Mr Rory and Mr Snart are not exactly the safest or most trust-worthy people to follow around.” Stein decided to put in his opinion, which caused Mick and Len to protest.

“At least we didn’t roofie him, Professor,” Snart snapped back.

“I did not _roofie_ him!”

“Sure you didn’t,” Mick grumbled.

“I did not!”

“He was unconscious!”

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We’re saving the future!”

“That doesn’t mean you can go around drugging people.”

“I can assure you that I do not make a habit of it, Ms Saunders.”

“You just roofie kids to go on a potentially deadly journey through space and time.”

“Oh, and I suppose you’ve never drugged anyone before, Mr Snart. Or you, Mr Rory?”

“No.”

“Hey, Jax, you feeling ok? You look a little green,” Ray observed, noticing that Jax didn’t seem to be doing so well.

“I feel seasick.”

“You’re not on a boat, kid.”

“Oh.” He said, before promptly throwing up.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later, and Jax was sat at the kitchen table, hands still in the cuffs, tuning out his current lecture, this one from Stein. His only consolation was that Leonard and Mick had held up their end of the bargain, and taken most of the brunt of disapproval, disappointment and stern lectures. However, even after their heartfelt bonding moment during the prison break, Stein still seemed to like making his life difficult.

“Jefferson, are you listening to me?”

“Of course, grey.”

“Hey, professor, Rip wanted to see you in the main room.” Snart said, hovering in the doorway.

“Thank you, Mr Snart. We’ll continue this later, Jefferson,” Stein said as he wandered out into the corridor. Snart smirked and pulled out a chair, dropping into the place next to Jax. He gestured for Jax to raise his arms, and produced a lock pick from his sleeve.

“Pay attention, kid. I’m gonna teach you how to pick locks,” Snart said as he began to work on the handcuffs, giving Jax pointers here and there.

Maybe their little trip had been worth the lectures and the nausea.

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new chapter. Thank you so much for the comments and kudos, it was lovely and it makes me want to carry on writing. I hope you liked this chapter, and if things go to plan, there should be another one up tomorrow.
> 
> By the way, you should totally check out sansasnarks and her Legends Family series if you like this, cause it's brilliant.


	3. Can you people please learn how to diffuse a bomb properly?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rip regrets his life choices and ever starting this mission, Leonard suggests a game of strip poker, Mick thinks his teammates are insane, Kendra is a worried mama bird, and Jax wishes that someone would actually bother to learn how to diffuse a bomb properly, preferably without vaporising them all in the process.

The ship slowly shuddered to a halt, and Jax leaned over the side of the chair to retch slightly. Some of the others didn’t seem to be fairing to well either. Kendra looked fairly nauseous, and when Ray went to stand up, he promptly fell over. It seemed that Ray would always suffer from vertigo after time travel. Mick was groaning, and even Stein didn’t seem to be coping too well. The only ones who seemed unaffected were Rip (not surprising since he was a time master), and Sara, which also wasn’t surprising. Sara didn’t seem to be fazed by anything. He’d heard Snart waxing lyrical about the time she’d beaten up six Russian mobsters.

“Welcome to New York, 1992. We’re here to stop Savage from successfully blowing up the World Trade Centre a full year earlier, using the tech he recovered from Mr Rory’s gun,” Rip announced with a pointed look at the two rogues of the group. “We’re going to need to divide into teams. One team will be tasked with neutralising the bomb before it goes off, while the other team is going to accompany me on a trip to Savage’s new bank in Switzerland.”

This new announcement seemed to surprise most of the team for all of about ten seconds before everything devolved into chaos, with everyone bickering with the others.

Jax sat back and watched as Ray and Stein began ‘debating’ about the best way to diffuse a bomb, without losing half of Ray’s suit this time preferably. Carter and Kendra were arguing about whether or not Kendra should take a shot at Savage, with Carter arguing that Kendra still wasn’t quite ready, and Kendra being much more gung-ho about the whole thing, and Leonard, Sara and Mick were all busy hurling insults at each other.

(“With respect Raymond –”

“Savage is too strong right now, Chay-ara –”

“My name is Kendra and –”

“What would you know about subtlety, Snart?”)

A loud whistle pierced the air, followed by Rip’s shout of, “Enough! You’re all acting like children.”

“What does that make you, Rip? Our father?” Was Len’s sarcastic comment.

“God help me,” Rip muttered quietly as he brushed a hand over his face and looked heavenward. “I’m working with children, actual children…”

“Once you’re done talking to yourself, Daddy dearest, perhaps you’d like to explain how exactly this is going to work.”

Rip glared at Snart before beginning his explanation. “The first group will comprise of Professor Stein, Dr Palmer, and Miss Saunders.” He held up his hand to silence Kendra’s protestations. “Carter’s right Kendra. Now isn’t the right time to go after Savage. We’re not ready right now. Now, group two will be Miss Lance, Mr Snart, Mr Rory, Mr Hall and myself.”

“Wait, what about me?” Jax asked, suddenly noticing that he’d been left out the planning.

“Jefferson, you’re still training. And after the last time you stole the jump ship –”

“Come on, man. You can’t use that as an excuse to leave me on the ship. I can help. I mean, if everything goes wrong, then me and Grey can merge and get the bomb out of there,” Jax protested. He was really sick of being left behind, and treated like a kid. He was 20 years old, not 12.

“He’s got a point, Rip. The last time we dealt with a bomb, we ended up needing Firestorm,” Sara said, trying to support Jax. “And he’s been doing really well in his training. You should give him the chance to prove himself.”

Rip sighed, and rubbed his hand over his face again, before reluctantly nodding his head. “All right, Jefferson, you can help the others diffuse the bomb, but you have to listen to what they tell you, ok?”

“Got it. And listen, you know, I’m not a kid and –” Jax was cut off when Rip clapped his hands together. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, they weren’t going to listen to him anymore.

“Ok, everyone. Suit up. We’ll drop off the first team, before heading to Switzerland. We’ll rendezvous back at the drop-off site in three hours. That should give you enough time to disarm the bomb and stop Savage’s men. Take these,” he said, handing them each an electronic device. “These are communications devices. Radio us if you need help, or if anything goes wrong.” Rip handed out the same devices to the other group. “Contact details are programmed in for each person.”

“So it’s basically a phone from the future,” Jax stated, turning the thin, flat device over in his hands. It appeared to be made out of some sort of plastic or glass, lightweight, with a blue digital display, emitting a low, light blue-hued light.

“It’s much more complex than a phone, Jefferson. It uses technology to overcome any temporal disruptions or difficulties, meaning that it can used to communicate with anyone with a corresponding device in any place in space or time,” Rip explained, displaying how the device worked, tapping various buttons, and bringing up a display that had the names of the rest of the Legends.

“It’s a futuristic phone.”

Rip sighed. He was either going to kill them all, kill himself, or just let Vandal Savage destroy the world. Nothing was worth having to put up with this group of so called “Legends”. Not even Savage’s world domination. And he was fairly sure that he’d seen some grey hairs when he’d been getting ready in his private (read: ‘secret that none of the other Legends know about’) bathroom. Their antics were making him go prematurely grey. Of all the people in space and time, he’d been saddled with a bunch of immature children who seemed to take delight in making his life as difficult as possible.

“Just…go and get ready. We’ll be arriving in 10 minutes.”

“Aye, aye, captain,” Ray said cheerfully, practically skipping towards the workshop where his suit was currently stored. Leonard snorted at the face that Rip pulled, causing Sara and Kendra to look at their esteemed leader, which immediately set them off giggling. Jax tried, and failed miserably, to stifle his own laughter, and even Stein and Carter couldn’t quite keep the smiles off their faces. Mick simply looked at them like they were all mad. They probably were.

“I hate you all,” Rip said childishly, and stormed off into his little study/relaxation space. If they were going to act like children, then so was he. “Gideon, take over control of the ship.”

Today was not going to be a good day.

 

* * *

 

“Kendra, look out!” Jax shouted as another one of Savage’s men crept up behind her. Stein and Ray were currently trying to diffuse the bomb while Kendra and Jax were tasked with trying to hold off Savage’s men.

They’d discovered that the first bomb they’d diffused had been a decoy to lead them all into a trap, which had resulted in an epic throw-down between them and Savage’s mindless minions, which they’d just about managed to win, when Ray had informed them that he’d found the real bomb, and that they had less than 12 minutes to disarm it, or else they’d all be ashes in a mile wide crater. And that was how they now found themselves trying to fend off the rest of Savage’s men while Stein and Ray argued about the best way to disarm it, preferably without vaporising them all in the process.

“But if we neutralise the core –”

“That only works in 7 minutes in the movies, Dr. Palmer. It takes much longer to successfully neutralise the core. And I don’t suppose that you’ve noticed, but we currently have nothing to neutralise the core with, Dr. Palmer, except for a pair of tweezers, a set of pliers, a futuristic device, and an incomprehensible manual on bombs that is written in _Russian_ , Dr. Palmer.”

“Well, if we cut the wires here and here, and then reboot the system –”

“There isn’t enough time to be able to fully reboot the system as well –”

“Could you two geniuses hurry up and turn that fucking thing off before we all get blown up?” Jax yelled as he took down another goon with a swift punch to the face. Sara and Carter’s training really was paying off, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. He still didn’t like waking up at 6am.

“Well if you have some sort suggestion on how to diffuse a nuclear warhead, Jefferson, or anything useful to contribute at all,” Stein snapped as he and Ray began pulling various wires out of the explosive device.

“Hey, you’re still alive aren’t you, Grey? I’d say that’s pretty useful,” Jax replied, kicking one attacker in the groin, and another in the face. He was really getting fed up of Stein fault-finding in everything that Jax did. I mean it really wasn’t fair, especially when –

BAM!

One of the thugs struck Jax in the face with a metal pipe, and Jax stumbled for a moment before going down like a pile of bricks. He could feel blood pouring from his nose and down his face, coating his lips and his chin, some of it dripping into his mouth and onto his tongue, the sharp, metallic taste causing him to grimace. He could also feel his right eye begin to swell shut, and his face felt as though he’d been hit by a train. Out of his good eye, he saw the thug raise the pipe for one final swing. Jax held his arm up to try and defend himself, knowing that it’d probably just be broken. He flinched and braced himself for the strike, when he saw a brown and golden blur out of the corner of his eye.

Kendra slammed into the man with a furious battle cry, swinging her spiked mace in an arc and smacking the guy square in the face. She fought off a couple more potential attackers with equal ferocity, and when she’d deemed it safe for the moment, she bent down to where Jax was splayed on the ground, and checked him over, carefully brushing her fingers over his injured face.

“Jax! Are you alright? Can you get up?” Kendra’s voice wobbled, filled with worry as she fussed over the injured boy (and yes, he was still young, and he was still a boy, to Kendra). She continued to check over him for several more minutes, probing his arms and legs to see whether or not he’d been injured even more when he fell, before offering him a hand up.

“I’ll good, Kendra,” Jax said, as he took her proffered hands. “I’ll be great when I’ve had some painkillers.”

Jax slowly stood up, his legs, and in particular his bad knee, aching as he righted himself. He felt slightly wobbly, and wondered if it was possible that he had a concussion. He hoped not. Kendra was already fussing over him, and while he was pretty sure his face looked a mess, it probably wasn’t as bad as it looked. But if he had a concussion…

“Ah ha!”

Ray’s jubilant exclamation caused Kendra and Jax to look back to where Stein and Ray were buried in a tangle of multi-coloured wires. Why could bombs never be simple and colour coded? Red for death, green for safe, yellow for ‘oh shit, what does that do?’ Jax thought that bomb makers just made things ridiculously complicated for no reason.

On second thoughts, he probably did have a concussion.

Stein was able to shout, “Dr Palmer, don’t –”, before Ray ripped out a bunch of wires, which caused the warhead to begin bleeping at triple speed. Stein just groaned as Ray had the decency to look slightly ashamed and mutter, “Whoops.”

“We need to get this thing out of here,” Jax said as he watched the numbers flash rapidly in front of them, counting down to their inevitable doom. _Heaven had better have chocolate ice cream,_ Jax thought to himself.

Definitely a concussion.

Stein and Jax approached each other, already knowing what had to be done without exchanging any words. If only their partnership always worked this well. As Jax went ‘flame on’, Ray and Kendra backed out of the way, Ray still looking fairly sheepish.

Jax heaved the bomb into his arms, and, surprised at how heavy it was, almost dropped it, causing Stein to let out a stream of reprimands in Jax’s head. _Honestly, Jefferson. Be careful. We don’t want to blow up Dr Palmer and Miss Saunders, never mind the rest of the civilians above us. You’re still holding the warhead incorrectly, Jefferson. If you’d simply listen to me –_

“Seriously, grey, can we just focus on getting this thing away from New York?”

_Well yes, of course, Jefferson. I’m simply saying that –_

Jax attempted to tune out Stein’s incessant nagging and blasted off into the air. He hoped that this wouldn’t be an exact repeat of the last nuclear disaster they’d dealt with. Knowing their luck, though, it probably would be.

And Jax’s face still hurt.

 

* * *

 

“What happened to you, kid? You look like you got hit by a bus,” Leonard commented when he saw the state that Jax was in, as Kendra, Ray, Stein and Jax hobbled onto the Waverider. Mick grunted in agreement when he saw the kid’s face. He looked like he’d bathed in his own blood.

“One of Savage’s men attacked him,” Kendra said as she began to steer him towards the MedBay. Jax was feeling delirious and slightly out of it, especially since he’d had to merge with Stein as Firestorm. The professor’s incessant complaining hadn’t helped with headache that was beginning to develop behind Jax’s temples, either. “He also has a concussion, so I need someone to help me keep an eye on him, apply cold compresses, and make sure he doesn’t try to take any painkillers just yet.” Kendra said the last part with a huff, remembering the last time Jax had had a concussion, and had taken painkillers straight away. Kendra had been convinced that Jax was going to die when his head had started gushing even more blood, and had constantly fussed and hovered around him for days afterwards, making sure that the kid wasn’t going to drop dead on them. After watching Carter die, Kendra hadn’t been dealing with idea that any of the team could die, at any moment or in any situation, very well.

“And make sure that he stays in bed in the MedBay and rests, cause last time I caught him doing football exercises,” Ray chipped in, completely missing the half-hearted frown Jax threw his way. He really didn’t need Ray giving Kendra even more of a reason to fuss over him.

“Well, I guess Mick and I can keep an eye on him for a while,” Leonard volunteered, trying to pretend that he wasn’t really bothered or fussed. But he wasn’t really fooling anyone, and Sara shot a smirk in the direction of the rogues.

“Ok, I’ll go and make up some cold compresses in the kitchen. Carter, can you help me?” Kendra asked, already heading off down the corridor. Carter jogged to catch up, placing a hand on her shoulder, and inspecting the small wounds that Kendra had sustained during the fight.

Leonard and Mick took their place on either side of Jax and began to herd him in the direction of the MedBay, hands on his shoulders, both to push him gently along, as well as to be ready to catch the kid in case the concussion was worse than it seemed.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, kid, stay awake. You can’t sleep just yet,” Mick grunted from where he and Len were sitting on a couple of chairs across from the bed where Jax was resting. They’re broken out a set of playing cards that Len had found in his parka (Jax was pretty sure that you could probably find a kitchen sink in Len’s parka if you looked hard enough. Ok, so yeah, he was still delirious), and Leonard was currently beating Mick at a hand of poker. They’d tried to amuse Jax to begin with, but the kid was so out of it that they thought it was probably better just to let him rest. However, they also had to keep the kid awake, which was proving to be a problem at the minute.

Len grinned triumphantly when Mick folded for the third time a row, and collected his winnings. In this case, a bundle of cotton wool balls, some paper clips, and a couple of plasters, since they didn’t currently have any liquid funds to bet with, and they’d had to make do with what they could find in the MedBay. Len looked over at Jax, and saw that his head was beginning to loll slightly, and his eyes were starting to flutter closed.

“Kid, you’ve got to stay awake,” he said, glancing at Mick, and noticed that the usually gruff man was also concerned. “We’re gonna teach you how to count cards, ok kid? But you’ve got to stay awake. And we’ll get Kendra to bring you chocolate ice cream.” Snart had resorted to bribery. The kid was always eating, and Leonard remembered having a bottomless stomach when he was Jax’s age too. And Jax always seemed to perk up whenever Kendra and Sara broke out the ice cream and declare that it was an ice cream and movie night.

Jax began to perk up at the mention of food, and Len felt some of the tension in his shoulders ease.

“Ice cream?” Jax murmured blearily blinking, and trying to wipe a hand across his eyes, before wincing and hissing as he brushed against his now incredibly swollen eye. Mick grabbed one of the ice packs that Kendra had left on the table, and handed it to Snart, who gently pressed it against Jax’s bruised cheek.

“Thanks,” Jax mumbled, practically melting into the bed as the pain in his face began to recede.

“Aww, are you guys playing doctors and nurses?” Ray cooed as he entered the MedBay, a cheeky grin etched onto his face.

“Well, Mick does look good in a nurse’s outfit,” Leonard shot back with a leer and a wink, causing Ray to blush bright red, and Mick to grumble and roll his eyes at his partners antics, shuffling the cards in his hands. “How nice of you to visit, Raymond.”

“Kendra wanted me to check up on the patient,” Ray said, deliberately avoiding Snart’s eyes. “How’re you feeling, buddy?”

Jax mumbled something incomprehensible, but Ray was fairly sure he caught the words ‘chocolate ice cream’ and ‘counting cards’. Ray wondered what on Earth Mick and Leonard had been talking to Jax about.

“He’s doing fine, Raymond. Care to join us? We were about to play a hand a strip poker.”

Ray began to sputter, and even the tips of his ears turned red when he blushed again. He staggered backwards out of the MedBay, throwing a “feel better soon, Jax” over his shoulder, before making a hasty retreat back towards the workshop.

Jax just groaned as Leonard snickered, and Mick continued to flick through the deck of cards.

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so not much of Sara, Rip, Carter or Stein interaction with Jax in this chapter, but I promise there will be more in the next few chapters. Thank you all for your lovely comments and kudos. It makes me really happy. More comments and kudos are always welcome, and the next chapter should hopefully be up in a couple of days, depending on college work.


	4. Bar Fights and Bourbon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jax regrets his decisions, the Rogues and Canary manage to start yet another brawl in a bar, Jax continually ends up getting hurt, Stein is actually a force to be reckoned with, and ice cream makes everything better.
> 
> Warning: Quite a bit of racist language in this chapter and, as always, violence

“Remind me again why I had to come with you to a bar in 1950s America?” Jax groaned as he heard yet another derogatory slur pass through the lips of some of the tipsy patrons. He’d decided as soon as he’d walked through the door that he hated the 50s. They could keep the jukeboxes, rock’n’roll music, and drive-in theatres. The 50s were truly awful for Jax. Even Kendra, who usually liked whatever time period they were in, was having trouble seeing the good side of the era they’d landed in.

“Because the last time we went to a bar, Sara started a fight, and Mick set fire to what was left of the place,” Leonard drawled from in front of him. He caught Jax’s flinch as another insult was flung his way. “Just ignore them, kid.”

“So you need a babysitter?” Jax asked, his voice full of sarcasm and barely disguised frustration. He _really_ hated the 50s. Snart rolled his eyes at the comment while Sara just smirked like she was proud of Jax for his comment.

“We don’t need a babysitter,” Mick grunted, eyeing some of the patrons who were still being disrespectful with barely concealed contempt. “We just need someone to make sure we don’t kill anyone.”

“What do you want to drink?” Sara asked as she stood up.

“Vodka.”

“Beer.”

“Uh, can I have a vodka too?”

“Sorry, kid. You’re still not old enough to drink, and the professor said he’d mess up our guns if you got drunk again,” Len piped up, and Jax shot him a glare. There was no way he was being forced to go to a bar with them, endure racist insults, and then not be allowed to drink. He looked at Sara for some help (after all, she was the one who seemed to know the legal drinking age anywhere in the world in any era), who held her hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, Jax, legal drinking age is 21. And the boys are right, Stein would kill them.”

“Don’t you mean us?” Len corrected, slightly confused.

“Nope.” And with that Sara sashayed off in the direction of the bar.

“I really hate the 50s,” Jax sighed as he settled into his chair.

 

* * *

 

_3 hours earlier_

“Rip, we were hoping we could go out for a drink, since we’re stuck here for a while,” Sara suggested, seemingly appearing from nowhere, and startling Rip , causing him to let out a very unmanly squeak (which he would later deny happened).

“Miss Lance, after the last debacle involving yourself, Mr Snart, Mr Rory, and a bar in the 70s that somehow ended up spontaneously combusting, I don’t think a field trip to a bar would be very advisable,” Rip replied as he tried to gather up the papers he’d been working on.

“What if we took someone responsible with us?” Sara asked as Stein and Ray entered Rip’s study.

“And whom would that be, Miss Lance? Mr Hall and Miss Saunders are currently…indisposed. I am too busy tracking down Savage to babysit you while you attempt to destroy every bar in this town, and I’m sure Professor Stein and Dr Palmer have more important things to do, like fixing my ship after they managed to break it.” At this Rip shot a pointed glare towards the two scientists in question.

“Actually, we just came to talk to you about that, we need –”

“Well what about Jax, then?” Sara continued, determined to get Rip to agree to her plan.

“I hardly think Jefferson would be capable of either babysitting or stopping you and your compatriots, Miss Lance. So I’m afraid the answer is no,” Rip said with an air of finality, but Sara wasn’t deterred. If she could convince her sister to hand over her last chocolate bar, she could convince Rip to let them go to a bar. Rip continued to fuss with his papers, scrabbling around for one particular piece.

“Ok, fine, we’ll make a deal then. Jax can come with us to make sure we don’t burn down the bar, and we’ll make sure to be back by midnight. Deal?” Sara said, holding out her hand to the flustered captain.

“Oh, fine, yes, Miss Lance,” he agreed, shaking her hand while continuing to do an impression of a ferret looking for food.

“Uh, Miss Lance, are you proposing to take Jefferson to a bar?” Stein asked, following her out as she headed towards the hangar.

“Yeah.”

“Well, would you kindly inform Mr Rory and Mr Snart that if Jefferson comes home drunk, or not in one piece, they will find their firearms modified so that their sole function is to electrocute the user,” Stein said with authority. Sara was fairly sure that he’d actually carry out his threat.

“Sure, professor.”

 

* * *

 

_4 hours later_

Sara had returned with their drinks, and had handed Jax a bottle of cola, much to his annoyance. The rogues were currently chatting about some diamond or other gem that was in a museum not too far away, and Sara was chipping with various ideas on how they could get to it.

_I’m not gonna be their getaway driver this time_ , Jax thought bitterly as he sipped on the slightly warm soda, the bubbles hitting the back of throat. He closed his eyes, trying to block out the noise of the bar, the racist slurs that were still being slung at him, the lousy music, and the rancid smell of cigarette smoke, and possibly even weed.

“Hey, nigger. Shouldn’t you be in the gutter, with the rest of your dirty folk?”

Jax clenched his jaw, and curled his hands into fists, trying not to let them rile him up. That was what they wanted, and he wasn’t going to give in.

“What did you just say?” Mick growled, standing up from his seat, and stalking towards the guy at the bar who had presumably been stupid enough to insult Jax while he was with two thieves, and a very deadly, very pissed off, assassin. Not that the idiot knew that.

“What’s it to you, man? Why’d you care about that blackie?” Jax thought that the guy might shut up when Mick advanced towards him, his expression murderous, but either the guy felt really brave, or he didn’t have a brain, because he kept running his mouth.

“You fucking him? Is that it? You a fag?” The guy laughed along with his friends, unaware of what was coming. “I mean, that’s the only reason you’d hang around with a darkie, right?” More laughter.

At some point, Len and Sara had stood up from their seats as well, but when Jax went to stand up, Leonard gently pushed him back down into his seat.

“Stay there, kid.”

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Jax said irritably. He was perfectly capable of fighting his own battles.

“I know, kid, but they’re armed, and you’ve only just recovered from your last stint in the MedBay,” he said with a hint of understanding in a soothing tone, which Jax wasn’t aware Snart was capable of.

Len approached the bar as well, gun in hand, taking his place at Mick’s right hand side, while Sara followed, taking up a fighting stance on Mick’s left. Mick gripped the idiot’s collar and hauled him up from the bar stool.

“I think you owe him an apology,” was all Mick said before he smashed the guy’s head against the bar, and all hell broke loose.

Two of the guy’s friends went for Sara, who took them down easily, using a barstool as an improvised weapon. She clipped one guy on the jaw with a broken chair leg, and while kicking the other in face, sending him sprawling. She threw another couple of punches, before throwing the man across the bar into the shelves of liquor.

Leonard was blasting people left, right and centre with his gun, whacking a few people with it when it finally ran out of charge, and then resorting to smashing bottles of beer on people’s head when he’d gotten tired of punching them.

Meanwhile, Mick was beating the stupid guy to a bloody pulp. He got in another couple of punches before Jax shot up and grabbed his arm. If Mick punched the guy any more, he’d probably kill him, or break his hand in the process.

“Hey, Mick, he’s had enough. You’re killing him.”

Mick froze for a moment, looking between Jax and the nearly unconscious man in front of him, before huffing and letting him go. The guy slumped down to the floor, both eyes swollen shut, face a bloody, bruised mess, and Jax thought he could see a few of his teeth scattered across the bar’s surface, the white of the molars a rather odd contrast to the dark wood.

Jax was mentally congratulating himself on stopping the pyromaniac from killing someone, when he heard a worried cry of “Jax!” before he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, followed by a thump as his body collided painfully with the floor. As his vision began to swim, black encroaching at the edge of his sight, Jax could almost swear he heard three voices say, “Idiot”, before he lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

“Mick, is he ok?” Sara asked as she crouched down next to the unconscious boy. Mick felt for a pulse, and nodded, before inspecting the back of Jax’s head. Len stood above them, scanning the room for any more threats. His hand hurt slightly from where he’d clocked the guy who’d hit Jax with a broken stool.

“He’s gonna have a concussion and one hell of a headache,” Mick declared, before lifting Jax into his arms. He headed for the door, and Sara followed, pausing when she saw Leonard wandering back towards the bar.

“Can’t go one night without stealing something, Snart?” She rolled her eyes as the man in question grabbed a bottle of bourbon that was somehow still intact despite the destruction surrounding it.

“That’s real funny, Sara. Just thought that we could share it while we wait for the kid to wake up, and while Stein is lecturing us all on damaging his partner, _again_ ,” Snart replied. He sauntered back towards the assassin, and held the door open in a rare display of gentlemanliness, and gestured for her to follow the pyromaniac currently carrying the injured, combustible human back towards the time-travelling spaceship. Their life was very weird.

“Why, thank you, Mr Snart,” she thanked him in a flirtatious tone with a little curtsy, and Snart rolled his eyes so hard, she thought they might roll out of his head.

“Next time I won’t bother.”

“Aww, but it’s adorable to see you trying to act like a gentleman. Is it practice for wooing a certain scientist?”

“Sara,” he said testily, his tone indicating that he _really_ didn’t want to discuss this with her. Unfortunately for the thief, Sara wasn’t accustomed to letting things go, especially when she was curious.

And so began the two hour inquisition of Snart’s possibly budding relationship with the cute, blushing scientist.

 

* * *

 

Jax woke up with bright white lights blinding his vision, and would have been tempted to ask if he was heaven, had it not been for the splitting headache, and smell of alcohol mixed with Mick’s rancid body spray, which Ray had theorised was probably ‘ _Eau de Racoon’_.

“How you doing, kid?” Jax had trouble locating where the disembodied voice was coming from, and tried to sit up, only for a pair of hands to push him back into the bed. Mick’s face swam into Jax’s view, and Jax felt his face curve up into a goofy smile.

“You didn’t leave me behind,” he slurred out, and when he saw Snart and Sara, his grin grew even wider. “You guys are great.”

“I think he’s got a concussion.” Jax heard Ray’s voice, and theorised that he was probably in the doorway to the MedBay.

“Thank you for your input, Raymond. Any more helpful comments?” Snart drawled, sarcasm dripping from his voice, as per usual.

“Shut up, all of you,” Mick barked out as he manhandled Jax, albeit gently, around, checking his head for any bleeding or additional abrasions. Jax briefly wondered when Mick turned into a doctor, before he remembered Leonard mentioning how Mick was always patching himself up. Once Jax had finished, Ray approached him, and handed him a tub of B&J’s chocolate ice cream.

“Courtesy of Kendra. She heard you got hurt. Carter’s trying to keep her from coming up here and attacking these guys. Oh, and Stein is looking for you two,” Ray said, pointing to Len and Mick. “Mentioned something about guns, one piece, and tampering, and he was headed down to the training area.”

Mick and Len exchanged a glance before hurrying out of the MedBay.

“What was that about?” Jax asked as Ray helped him into one of the chairs next to the bed.

“I, uh, may have promised the professor that we’d bring you back sober and in one piece,” Sara said, perching herself on the edge of the bed, smirking slightly. She felt bad for the Rogues, especially since taking Jax with them was her idea, but still, they deserved to be taken down a peg or two.

“Ah ok. So Grey’s gone to mess with their guns?”

“Yeah.”

“We probably don’t want to be here when they come back, do we?”

“Nope.”

The trio looked to each other, before Sara and Ray helped Jax up from the chair, each taking an arm to support his weight, as he was having balance problems. Ray could relate, whenever they travelled to a new time.

“Hey, Sara, do you wanna have a movie night with us, so that you can avoid a homicidal hawk-goddess roommate, and two annoyed criminals?” Ray asked with a puppy dog smile on his face.

“Sounds good.”

As they were stumbling back toward Ray and Jax’s bunk, Jax could’ve sworn that he heard Mick’s enraged cry, and Grey shouting at the top of his lungs.

Maybe the evening hadn’t been so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this has taken me absolutely forever to update, but college work is slowly starting to bury me alive. Thank you to everyone who has given me kudos, and written lovely comments. It makes this all worthwhile. I'm sorry that Jax seems to always end up getting hurt. I swear he won't in the next chapter. This chapter was inspired in part by this headcanon:  
> http://unconventionalheroes.tumblr.com/post/140137846878/okay-so-consider-thismicks-medical-skills


	5. Movie Nights and Sleepovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movie nights are great ideas, except for when Sara is allowed to choose the movie.
> 
> Or,
> 
> The one in which scary movies probably aren't the best choice when you think about the fact that they're flying around in a spaceship, and weird, creepy shit has already happened. And the Legends decide to have a sleepover (because obviously none of them are a little freaked out.

POP!

POP!

POP!

“Ray, I swear to God, if you pop that gum one more time…” Sara snarled from where she was slouched on a beanbag, staring vacantly at whatever programme was playing on the screen.

“Hey, isn’t that a Chicago quote?” Jax asked, his head popping up from behind the sofa.

“Jax, why are you behind the sofa?”

“Cause there’s no room on the sofa?” Jax replied uncertainly. He wasn’t actually entirely sure how he’d managed to end up on the floor. He looked at Len and Mick, who had sprawled across most of the sofa, and Len rolled his eyes before shifting slightly so that there was space for Jax to sit. Jax climbed over the back of the sofa, slightly clumsily, and almost managed to kick Mick in the face, before he got himself situated, and sank back into the couch.

POP!

“Ok, that’s it,” Sara growled, standing up and moving towards where Ray was sat at the desk, reading a book on Advanced Quantum Mechanics that he’d ‘liberated’ from Rip’s study on the pretence of learning how to help Jax fix the engines more efficiently, and possibly tune up the time-warp drive.

Rip chose that moment to enter, and he blocked Sara’s advance towards the oblivious physicist, who was still popping his gum, unaware of just how close he’d come to being beaten up.

“If you could refrain from killing your teammates before we defeat Savage, Miss Lance, it would probably be rather helpful,” he said, while steering Sara back towards her chair. He stood in front of the TV, blocking everyone’s view to it, before clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention.

Well, everyone except Ray. Sara lobbed a bag of Oreos at him to get his attention when he ignored their shouts of his name.

“Ow! Why did you throw a bag of…oh yum, Oreos.” A smile lit up Ray’s face as he tore into the bag of delicious biscuits.

“Dr. Palmer, if you could please stop eating for one minute. Gideon estimates that the repairs will take another 4 hours,” this elicited a chorus of moans and groans from the team, who were already bored out of their minds. “I suggest you find a way to entertain yourselves for the next few hours, _without_ breaking anything or killing anyone.” He shot a pointed look towards Sara and Mick. He then flounced off back to his study, leaving a bunch of disgruntled Legends behind.

“Well, does anyone have any ideas of what they want to do in the mean time?” Kendra asked, trying to quell the rising tension in the room. They all started to get a bit antsy whenever they were stuck in space with nothing to do. Carter gave a lascivious grin from where he was sat next to her on the loveseat, and then winced when she elbowed him in the ribs.

“How about a movie night?” Jax suggested as he curled up on the sofa, shoving Mick and Len slightly more towards the sides,

“That’s a great idea,” Ray said as he jumped up from his seat and deposited himself on the on the other beanbag next to Sara.

“Yeah, I agree. So what’re we gonna watch?” Sara said while she tried to childishly push Ray off his beanbag.

“The Fifth Element.”

“Love Actually.”

“The Woman in Black.”

“The Italian Job.”

“The Bourne Identity.”

“I heard that there was a new war film that was released called Fury.”

“The Fast and the Furious.”

They myriad of voices died down, as they waited expectantly for Jax to make his vote.

“Uh, I dunno. I guess I’m cool with whatever you guys pick.”

“You can be the deciding vote, then,” Kendra proposed. “We can each vote for the film we wouldn’t mind seeing, and we’ll watch that one. The others nodded their heads in agreement.

5 minutes later, Ray groaned when they decided to watch Sara’s horror movie.

“It’s not even that scary, guys,” Sara commented, giving them her best ‘you-guys-can’t-be-serious’ look.

“Yes, well, maybe not for you, Sara, but –”

“Are you scared of a film, Raymond?” Len teased.

“I don’t enjoy horror films,” Ray replied, side-stepping the question quite neatly, which cause Len to roll his eyes.

“It’ll be ok, Raymond. We’ll protect you from the monsters under your bed,” Len mocked, and Ray huffed in annoyance before turning to face the TV. Everyone began settling in, the bags of popcorn Sara had grabbed from the kitchen shared between them all.

 

* * *

 

They’d only managed to get halfway through the film before Jax began to regret his decision. He’d never really been a fan of horror movies, but he hadn’t thought that it would be this bad. He flinched when he saw something flash by at the corner of the screen, and then jumped when something suddenly jumped out at them. He wedged himself further in between Mick and Len, who seemed to be almost shielding him from the TV.

Jax looked down to Ray, and saw that he wasn’t faring much better. His face was mashed behind a pillow half the time, and he flinched at every piece of creepy music and loud bangs. Kendra wasn’t doing so well either, sometimes hiding her face in Carter’s shoulder, who also didn’t seem to be particularly enjoying the film.

The only people who didn’t seem to be particularly affected by the film were the two Rogues currently pressed up next to him, Sara, who fucking _smiled_ at the absolutely terrifying parts of the film, and Stein, who had somehow managed to fall asleep half an hour ago.

The weird ghost woman appeared on the screen again, and Jax hid his face behind Len’s shoulder as sinister music began to play in the background, not caring how embarrassing it would normally be. Fortunately, Len didn’t comment, instead staying still and keeping his eyes trained on the screen, though they would sometimes flicker to the side whenever Jax flinched particularly violently.

There was an unearthly screech from the TV, and Jax closed his eyes, screwing them shut tightly.

Only another 45 minutes to go.

 

* * *

 

“We are never watching a horror film again,” Ray announced when light flooded back into the room. Everyone squinted against the harsh light, and they all began to disentangle themselves from their seats. “That was the most terrifying two hours of my life.”

“Yeah. Sorry, but I’m not sitting through that again,” Jax agreed as he untangled himself from the two criminals, stood up and stretched his cramped muscles. He was still slightly freaked out by the whole thing.

When everyone began to head off towards their rooms, muttering “good night” to the others, Jax hung back slightly, waiting for Ray to finish clearing up the bowls of popcorn and empty soda cans from the room. He wasn’t going to admit it out loud, but Jax was a bit scared to go wandering around the Waverider alone. After all, some of the corridors were very dark, and very creepy. Who knew what was lurking in the shadows? After all, he was on a spaceship, travelling through time, trying to stop an immortal maniac from destroying the world. At this point, anything was possible, including vengeful ghosts skulking in the deserted corridors of the ship.

“Hey, Jax. Are you waiting for me?” Ray asked as he walked towards Jax, who nodded. “You’re freaked out by the film too? Does anyone still say freaked out?” A nod and a shake of the head. Ray clapped Jax on the shoulder and steered him towards their room, keeping close by and offering comfort. Ray wasn’t ready to admit that he was a bit scared of the dark corners as well.

 

* * *

 

2 hours later, and Jax was still lying wide awake in bed. He was really starting to regret his vote for Sara’s film. He’d thought it would be fun, a jump-scare film; now he was too nervous to even close his eyes. What the _hell_ had he been thinking?

Jax lay in bed for another 5 minutes before he got fed up with his inability to sleep, and he slowly extracted himself from the bedsheets, carefully stepping off the bed so as not to wake up his roommate with the noise. But when he looked over to Ray’s bed, he saw that he needn’t have bothered as the scientist was also still awake.

“Hey, man, can’t sleep either?”

“I know it’s silly, but I’ve never been very good with horror films,” Ray replied. “Do you want some company?”

“Yeah, sure.”

 

* * *

 

Both Ray and Jax were surprised (and slightly startled) to see Kendra already in the kitchen, making what looked like…five, cups of hot chocolate. She saw them enter the room, and smiled, gesturing towards the mugs, and silently asking if they wanted a cup of hot chocolate. They both nodded and smiled in return. Kendra was the best.

“So, I guess we aren’t the only ones who are still awake?” Ray asked as he brushed his wild bed-hair out of his eyes.

“No. I managed to wake up Sara when I was trying to leave the room to make some hot chocolate – honestly, she’s such a slob. She leaves her clothes everywhere. Anyway, Carter, Mick and Len were already in the common room when we got here.” Kendra held out two cups to the pair, an arty looking mug that seemed to have flames on it, and a blue mug with an ant on it, and then began to ferry the rest of the cups into the common room. “Are you guys going to join us?”

Ray and Jax followed her into the common room, and found the rest of the Legends there, all looking slightly sleep-deprived. Ray plonked down into his beanbag, some of his chocolate sloshing over the sides of his mug. Both Mick and Len moved over slightly and gestured for Jax to sit down on the sofa.

No one spoke for a while, everyone sipping their warm drinks, and Jax tried not to be freaked out by Leonard’s weird reindeer mug. He was almost tempted to ask about it, but changed his mind when he saw Len’s tired expression. Questions about freaky mugs could wait until the morning. Or, you know, later in the morning, since it was about 4am according to his phone.

“So, you guys couldn’t sleep either, huh?” Ray commented as he placed his mug on the coffee table, and grabbed one of the chocolate biscuits that had mysteriously appeared when Jax hadn’t been paying attention. This immediately made four of the Legends begin to vehemently protest, citing reasons such as “chronic insomnia”, “Kendra is ridiculously loud,” and “Mick’s snoring” (this last one caused Mick to shoot Len a glare. Len just smirked at the arsonist). The babble eventually died down, leaving a slightly uncomfortable silence in its place.

“So, are we just going to stay here until we fall asleep?” Ray asked, trying to break the silence. This, however, caused everyone to shift slightly uncomfortably. None of them actually had any idea about what to do. There was no changing of days or natural light on board the Waverider, and none of them were willing to admit that they were a bit nervous about going to sleep.

“Well, I can’t be bothered to go back to my room,” Sara said, and motioned for the sofa’s occupants to stand up. Mick and Len shot each other slightly confused looks, but complied with the assassin’s order nonetheless. Len nudged Jax, who looked up at him uncomprehendingly. Len grabbed his arm and gently hauled him to his feet, steadying him slightly when he swayed on his feet.

“Leonard, a little help?” Sara half-asked, half-instructed, as she began to pull the cushions off the couch. Len handed Jax to Mick, who propped up the almost-unconscious boy, and looked at his partner as if to say, ‘what am I meant to do with him?’ Len just shrugged.

Sara began to pull the sofa apart, and the others realised that it was actually a rather large sofa bed. It was much longer than the average sofa bed, and could probably easily fit 3 people at the top, and another couple of people horizontally at the bottom.

“I think I saw some blankets in the bottom cupboard. I’ll go and get them,” Kendra said as she hauled herself up from the sofa.

Len swung himself onto the bed, and then leaned over the edge to grab a few cushions.

“Where’s the kid going to sleep?”

“With you guys, of course,” Sara said as though it was obvious. Len raised an eyebrow at her suggestion, but instead of replying, she simply raised hers back at him. “You guys are almost as bad as Kendra,” she said as she settled herself at the bottom of the bed. Len almost wished that she was lying the other way so she’d have to deal with Mick’s feet.

Mick placed Jax, who was now dead to the world, in the middle of the bed as Kendra returned with an armful of blankets. She passed one to Ray, who had curled up into a ball in the armchair, and threw another two at Carter’s head.

“How is it that you can make blankets hurt?”

“I’m a demi-goddess,” she replied to her soulmate with a serene smile. She handed a blanket to Sara, and threw the four remaining ones to Leonard. When he looked at her questioningly, she simply said, “Jax gets cold,” before lying down on the loveseat in front of Carter, who held her in an almost protective embrace. Leonard rolled his eyes at the sight of their sickeningly sweet, lovey-dovey antics.

He passed a blanket over to Mick, and draped a couple over Jax, making sure his feet were covered, before checking that no one apart from his partner had seen the action. Sara lay at the end of the bed smirking, and mouthed the words, “Mother hen,” at him. He resisted the urge to kick the incredibly deadly assassin with his socked foot. It probably wouldn’t do him much good, and he definitely wouldn’t get to sleep.

Len plumped up his pillow before settling in. Hopefully he’d actually get some sleep.

 

* * *

 

Rip smiled slightly at the sight of his team sleeping peacefully in the living room.

At some point during the night (or morning), Jax had twisted in his sleep, and had ended up with his face squashed into Mick’s (surprisingly warm) chest, drooling slightly on the older man.

Palmer had also managed to somehow migrate from the chair to the sofa, and was squeezed in next to Leonard, and appeared to be clutching onto him like he was some sort of giant teddy bear, while also sharing his blanket.

Stein had obviously come across the group at some point, and had taken Palmer’s vacant place in the armchair, his body curled slightly inwards, and his glasses on the coffee table. He’d also obviously stolen Ray’s discarded blanket.

Sara had splayed herself out across half of the sofa bed like some sort of oddly coloured starfish, and her limbs were tangled with the other occupants of the sofa bed, so much so that it was hard to tell whose legs and arms were whose.

Kendra and Carter were still snuggled up on the couch, looking like a couple of cute love-birds, serene expressions covering their faces. He could easily believe that the two were soulmates in moments like this. Actually, even when they were having blazing rows (that usually ended in claws, fangs, and his ship being partially broken), he could still believe that they were soulmates, or at least an old married couple that definitely needed couples counselling. Perhaps he’d look into it on their next visit to the past, if they had time.

“Gideon,” the captain whispered quietly, so as not to wake the sleeping group, “could you take a picture of this? For posterity, obviously,” he tacked on at the end, hoping that the AI would comply with his request.

Rip’s handheld device buzzed quietly, and he fished it out of his pocket, the display showing a rather adorable picture of the Legends all sleeping together.

At least this meant Snart (and by extension Rory) would stop calling him ‘Time Dad’ now. Otherwise he could simply threaten them with sending this picture to all of their friends, family, and criminal associates. No one would be particularly scared of a criminal who was being drooled on by a kid, nor one who was being used as a human teddy bear.

Rip smiled to himself, and retreated to his study. He’d let them sleep a bit longer before he asked Gideon to wake them up. But only a bit.

After all, it was their own fault for watching a scary film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so to make up for the angst in the last chapter, I wrote this sickeningly fluffy chapter. (I actually enjoyed writing this a lot. Ignore my cynicism). I'm sorry for the long waits between chapters, but I'm a couple of chapters ahead now, so updates shouldn't be too difficult (she says hopefully while not believing a word). This chapter was mostly based on this headcanon:  
> http://booksoncanvas.tumblr.com/post/140464561825/thanks-for-the-ask-anon-i-found-this-one-quite
> 
> Anyway, thank you as always for reading, and special thanks to those who bookmark, subscribe, comment and leave kudos. It makes me very happy.


	6. The Roaring Twenties (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax is sick of everyone treating him like a kid and being benched, Stein needs to stop being a (well-meaning) ass, Rip decides they need to visit the Roaring Twenties to defeat Savage (because going to an era with mobsters, the mafia, and lots of guns is obviously a great idea!), and everyone looks incredibly dapper in their 20s get-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, hi, sorry for the long delay. College + exams = disaster, especially for writing. So this is going to be told in a few parts, and I promise I will do my best to update as soon as possible in future. 
> 
> Slight spoilers: This is set after episode 1x09 (probably quite a bit after), and basically they've got Mick back to normal, and everything is pretty much how it used to be before the whole 1x06 and 1x07 mess.
> 
> Oh, and btw, I totally called it that Len didn't kill Mick

It had been three days after what had since been dubbed, “The horror movie night that shall never be repeated”, by everyone except Sara and Stein (who thought that the film wasn’t scary at all), and Len, Mick and Carter (who all refused to admit that they had been terrified).

Sara had been the first awake, and had woken the others with her uproarious laughter at the sight of Jax drooling on Mick, and Len and Ray cuddling together.

Len had glared at both Ray, whose blush turned the tips of his ears red, and Sara, who had carried on cackling like a witch. Ray had immediately rushed out of the room, still clutching the blanket he and Leonard had been sharing (another fact which caused the scientist’s blush to become even brighter, if it was at all possible).

Jax had also ended up rushing out of the room when he’d finally woken up, after rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and blearily muttering, “Where am I?”, before he realised where exactly he’d fallen asleep, or rather, whom he’d fallen asleep on. Jax had sprinted out of the room (faster than anyone would’ve thought possible for someone with a torn ACL), convinced that if he stuck around Mick would probably kill him, or get Len to ice him (figuratively _and_ literally). (Side note: he’d also avoided both Len and Mick for the next three days to avoid that possibility).

Even Kendra and Carter had been slightly embarrassed, and had both returned to their own rooms, awkwardly bumping into each other several times before they even made it into the corridor. A light blush had covered Kendra’s cheeks, and when asked why by Ray a couple of days later, her eyes had lit up red, and he’d hastily retreated to the safety of his workshop.

“So, you and Ray, huh?” Sara had laughed as she asked Len, who had glared at her, wishing he’d had his cold gun. Instead, he stormed out of the room, Sara’s cackling following him down the hall.

Sara had then turned her attention of Mick, who had shrugged and grunted before following his partner. There was no way he was sticking around to be harassed by the blonde assassin about Len and Palmer, or even about the way he hadn’t killed the kid like he would’ve done with anyone else. He wasn’t ever going to admit that both he and Len had a soft spot for the kid.

“Perhaps some tact might be in order, next time, Miss Lance?” Stein commented from the armchair, glasses perched at the end of his nose while he read a book on advanced quantum physics. He’d given her a look that had reminded Sara of the librarian at her old high school. She’d shrugged and headed in the direction of the kitchen to make a fresh batch of coffee.

 

* * *

 

“Gideon has tracked Savage to New York, 1925. He’s trying to get his hands on an ancient Egyptian artefact from the Italian Mafia,” Rip announced as the Legends as they gathered in what had been labelled the ‘bridge’ (much to Ray’s glee. Everyone else except for Jax had groaned when he’d compared them to the crew of the Enterprise _yet again_. Both Sara and Mick were ready to kill him if he made another sci-fi reference). “Strap yourselves in,” he ordered as he as took his place in the captain’s chair.

The others all sat down as Jax shuffled from the doorway into the room, with Sara and Len already talking about speakeasies and moonshine and a lot of other stuff Jax’s sleep addled mind couldn’t quite comprehend. Ray and Stein were talking about meeting some scientist or other while they were there (which caused Rip to reprimand them about altering the timeline), and Kendra and Carter were discussing which artefact Savage could be after, and what exactly it might be able to do. Which left the only free seat next to…

Jax groaned internally. Someone out there really had it in for him. He still hadn’t talked to either rogue since he’d woken up drooling on Mick’s chest, and he’d been hoping to avoid doing so for as long as possible.

“Kid, you do realise you’re still in your pyjamas, right?” Mick grumbled as they sat next to each other.

Jax looked down at himself, and let out a surprised “huh” as he realised that he had indeed somehow managed to forget to get dressed that morning. “What time is it?” he mumbled as he tried to lower the metal bar over his shoulders.

“It’s midday, Jefferson,” Stein stated, a hint of disapproval creeping into his voice. Mick took pity on Jax and helped him lower the bar. “Perhaps you should invest in an alarm clock.”

“Oh, come on, Grey. Gimme a break. Ray was up late last night on his laptop. He kept me awake,” Jax said with a half-hearted glare in Ray’s direction, who had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

“Sorry,” the scientist muttered, but Jax shook his head.

“Nah, its ok Ray.” This caused the man in question to smile, reminding Jax slightly of a puppy.

“Everyone, hold on. We’re going back 50 years, so this going to be rather unpleasant,” Rip said as he pushed the lever forwards.

 

* * *

 

Ray toppled over as soon as he stood up from his seat and face-planted on the floor, and Jax almost felt sorry for him, but really, he would’ve thought someone as smart as Ray would’ve learnt by now that the side-effects of time-travel for the scientist _always_ included vertigo.

Stein seemed to be having hearing trouble this time, shouting at the top of his lungs that he felt just fine, causing everyone else to wince slightly at the volume.

Meanwhile, Kendra was leaning of the side of her seat to retch, and Carter was holding onto to his stomach in a way that suggested he was also very close to being sick, and even Sara and Snart didn’t seem to have escaped unscathed. Sara was pressing her fingers against her temples, and Leonard had closed his eyes and was groaning.

Even Jax had developed a nose-bleed, which was now making vaguely circular drops on his white t-shirt. “Oh man, why?” he complained as his head was suddenly assaulted by millions of tiny needles, digging their way into his temples. He shut his eyes and slumped into his seat, waiting for the pain to recede, wishing for the thousandth time that he’d decided to go home after all. Or that Stein hadn’t drugged him in the first place.

He was startled when he was suddenly hauled upright, and saw Mick looking at him. Jax almost thought that he saw a flash of concern in the arsonist’s eyes, but put that down to his mind being hazy from sleep deprivation and time-travel.

“Welcome to the ‘Roaring Twenties’, ladies and gentlemen. Mr Palmer, if you could kindly remove yourself from the floor, we can establish the mission plan,” Rip said as he wandered over to the table, stepping over where Ray was sprawled.

“If you’d be so kind as to wait for these side-effects to wear off, captain. Some of us are still not as adjusted to time-travel as you are,” Stein said, voice slightly lower this time, though not by much, causing both Sara and Jax to wince as the pain in their heads multiplied. Sara leaned against Len heavily, and Jax was just about ready to fall over when Mick propped him up.

“Of course, Professor Stein.”

When all of the Legends had mostly recovered, and Ray had scraped himself off the floor, they all gathered around Gideon’s floating head.

“Gideon, could you please brief us on the situation with Savage?”

“Of course, Captain Hunter. According to information collected, it appears that in 1925, Vandal Savage attempts to acquire an ancient artefact possessed by the leader of Italian Mafia at this time, Anthony Marconi. It appears that this artefact allows the possessor to use abilities similar to those of mind control and mind manipulation,” Gideon informed the team. Stein’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

“How is that possible?” He asked, and Jax could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to figure out some scientific explanation for it all. Stein was just about to open his mouth to pose the question to Gideon when Rip interrupted.

“You can discuss the particular aspects of mind control with Gideon later, Professor. For now, we should all visit the Fabrication Room and have the clothes made that we’ll need for this particular era. Gideon, if you’d be so kind as to fabricate 7 sets of clothing please,” Rip requested.

“Wait, only 7?” Ray looked slightly confused, as did the rest of the Legends. The looked at Rip questioningly, who sighed.

“I believe that it would be for the best if both Jefferson and Mr Hall were to remain behind on the Waverider and lead the mission in my stead. It is likely that if Savage realises that both you and Kendra are here, he will try and kill you both. _Again,_ ” Rip emphasised when Carter began to object.

“Whoa, wait. I’m being benched?” Jax balked. “Why am I being benched? Why can’t I go with you guys?”

“Because, Jefferson, I believe that after the… _incident_ , in the 50s involving Savage, it would be wise to keep you out of harm’s way,” Rip tried to reason with the agitated boy.

“What, you think I’m a liability now?”

“No, Jefferson, we’re merely concerned for your safety,” Martin supplied when Rip floundered for a response. However, this only seemed to enrage Jax further.

“You didn’t seem so concerned for my safety when you _roofied_ me, _kidnapped_ me, and dragged me into a mission that’s probably gonna get us all killed,” Jax shouted, causing the rest of the Legends to wince slightly.

“Jefferson, you’re being irrational –” Martin began, but Jax cut him off.

“No, I’m not, Grey. You guys are benching me because you think I’m gonna get caught by Savage again, or mess up, or something like that. Hey, Rip, am I a package deal like you said Rory and Snart were?” Jax’s tone was bordering on slightly hysterical. His breathing had picked up, and his hands, which had curled into fists at some point, were shaking slightly.

“No, Jefferson, you’re not a package deal. I was wrong with what I said to Mr Rory. You are needed on this team,” Rip said sincerely.

“Then let me go on this mission,” Jax stated, crossing his arms defensively and trying to hide his shaking hands. He looked Rip in the eye, and practically dared him to say no.

Rip exhaled slowly, a deep sigh dragging its way from his lips. He ran a hand over his hand and shook his head minutely before addressing the angry boy, and the professor standing next to him.

“Fine. Professor Stein, if you wouldn’t mind trading places with Jefferson. I will need you here to help you research the artefact and how Savage obtains it so that we can get to it before Savage gets his hands on it.”

“Are you sure this is wise?” Stein queried, dubious of the Captain’s decision. Jax glared at the professor, still annoyed that they were all trying to treat him like a child.

“Yes,” was all he said in reply, before he strolled off in the direction of the fabrication room, leaving a group of disgruntled Legends in his wake. Carter was still grousing about not being with Kendra, who was smiling and doing her best to reassure him that he was needed most on the Waverider. Stein, too, was grumbling, though he was more upset about missing the chance to explore the 20s, than Jefferson being allowed to accompany the Legends on a potentially dangerous mission.

“Are you lot ever going to get down here?” Rip’s disembodied voice echoed over the intercom.

The entire group of Legends headed down to the Fabrication Room. Even if they weren’t going to take an active role in the mission, Carter and Stein were sure as hell going to laugh at the other in their 1920s get-up.

 

* * *

 

Carter’s jaw dropped slightly when he saw Kendra exit her changing booth in full flapper dress. Her normally long, loose hair had been curled into a faux bob, and she was dressed in a bronze flapper dress with black beading and sequins, a matching bronze and purple headdress with what he assumed were hawk feathers, and a pair of bronze T-bar shoes.

It had been decided that both Kendra and Sara would go undercover at the speakeasy that was owned by the Italian Mafia that Savage had been seen frequenting in the few weeks prior to their arrival. Carter was very disappointed that he wouldn’t be getting to see his soulmate dancing on the stage. He tried to tamp down on the feeling of jealousy that rose up in his chest when he realised that many other men _would_ be looking at Kendra. Perhaps he could convince Rip to change his mind, convince him that it would be better if he were able to protect Kendra and look out for her.

He was distracted when Sara came out in an equally stunning flapper dress, this one pure white with silver beading. Her hair was similar to Kendra’s style, and she also had on a matching headdress with a silver crystal flower, and matching white T-bar shoes that Carter was sure probably hid a knife or something equally deadly. He knew for a fact that Sara probably had a dozen knives hidden in her costume somewhere. And she was also why Carter had been deemed unnecessary. Both Sara and Rip had assured him that Sara would take care of Kendra, even though she was perfectly capable of defending herself, as she kept reminding them all.

Jax stepped out next, though he did so reluctantly, and only a shiny black shoe appeared out from behind the curtain at first. The poor kid looked so uncomfortable in the clothes that Carter felt sorry for him. It didn’t help when the professor snapped at him. It seemed he was being even harder on the kid since he was reverted from his monstrous bird state. The kid had a grey fedora perched on his head, and had on three-piece grey suit with a blue shirt and dark grey bowtie. Sara wolf-whistled and gave him a small wink, causing the boy to blush.

“Uh, Rip, you know, why don’t Carter and I swap jobs? I mean, I don’t like being left behind, but –” Rip cut Jax off halfway through his stammering.

“It’s been decided, Jefferson. Your particular…skills, will be needed on this mission.”

“Wait, skills? Do you mean Firestorm? Cause that ain’t happening without Grey, man.”

“Uh, not quite. While Mr Rory and Mr Snart are fairly adept at…uh… _liberating_ , cars in the 21st century, they unfortunately lack the skills to pilot the jump ship in case of emergencies, and they are also unable to _liberate_ cars in this era,” Rip said from behind the curtain of his changing space.

“So what you mean is, you need me to hotwire a car in the 20s?”

“Well when you put it like that, Mr Jackson, yes.”

“Captain Hunter, I hope you’re not going to allow our criminal element to lead Jax astray this time,” Stein piped up, and Jax shot him a glare.

 _If anyone needs couples’ counselling, it’s those two, not us,_ Carter thought, his mind back-tracking to Rip’s first comment when he knocked them out and kidnapped them all initially.

“No, Professor Stein. That will not be happening this time. Will it Mr Snart, Mr Rory?” Rip asked them deliberately in the no-nonsense tone everyone was fairly sure he used on his son. Unfortunately for Rip, the Rogues seemed immune to this tone. Perhaps it only worked on children, though if that was the case, Carter was sure it should work on the Rogues, and possibly some of the other members of this team as well.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Snart drawled as he drew back the curtain with a flourish. Carter had to envious of how smart the criminal looked, with black and red suspenders attached to black trousers over a crisp white shirt and a black tie, and a black fedora tipped at just the right angle. Sara chucked a black blazer over to him from one of the many racks in the room, and the pair traded smirks as they checked each other out. Carter wasn’t quite sure what the deal was between those two, but he was sure it was more than casual. Probably.

Mick stepped out a couple of moments later, looking to be the embodiment of ‘casual’, wearing only a white shirt with black trousers and red suspenders attached. Kendra passed him a black blazer and fedora, and gave him a little smile when he complimented her.

A moment later, Ray stepped out in a sharp black suit, with black dress shoes, a black bowtie, and yet another black fedora. Carter was starting to think that Gideon could only make fedoras.

“Hey Rip, you ever coming out of there?” Sara half-asked, half-yelled at the time-travelling Englishman, who seemed to be taking the longest out of all of them.

“If you’ll just give me a moment, Miss Lance,” he replied huffily, causing Sara to smile a bit.

Their illustrious captain stepped out a moment later, and they all had to stifle their laughter.

Rip was wearing a three-piece brown suit with a tweed waistcoat over a blue shirt with a brown bowtie, and a brown bowler hat, and he looked every bit the Englishman. There would be no mistaking where Rip Hunter came from, even without the accent. 

Jax was desperately trying to stifle his sniggers behind his hand, and Sara had stopped bothering to try, her laughter filling the room. Even Kendra was giggling slightly, and both Carter and Jax were smirking slightly at the sight.

Rip tipped his hat at them, ignoring their laughter, and snatched up a large brown overcoat, and a cane, which even Carter thought was overkill. Well, until he twisted the handle and a long, thin blade slid out of the other end. That made the Legends shut up fairly quickly.

“Dude, is that a sword-cane?” Jax asked in slight disbelief, like a sword-cane was the weirdest thing he’d seen. Not monsters, immortal psychopaths, Mick as Boba Fett, or even himself and Kendra. Nope, obviously a sword-cane was weird.

Rip rolled his eyes, and twisted the handle again, causing the blade to slide back into the cane. “Yes, well, I thought that since we’re going up against both Vandal Savage and the Italian Mafia, it would be wise to be carrying some sort of weapon,” he stated with an air of superiority, and then he was back to being an asshole as usual.

“Well, are we all ready?” Rip asked, looking around the room at his rag-tag group of ‘legends’.

“Yeah, man, we were waiting on you,” Jax said, the surprise at seeing a sword-cane having worn off. “Do the rest of us get cool weapons?” He asked hopefully, face lighting up slightly.

“You’re not having weapons, Jefferson,” both Rip and Stein said sharply, looking to one another before looking back at the crestfallen kid.

“Perhaps it’d be better if he did have something,” Carter said, putting in his opinion. Another slightly hopeful look worked its way onto Jax’s face. “I mean, he’s not going to have his powers, and if there’s a chance he’ll run into the mob or Savage…”

“Yes, well, perhaps it would be wise,” Rip conceded, and Stein glanced at him in surprise. “Miss Lance, do you happen to have a spare, _small_ knife that Jefferson could borrow for time being?” Rip asked, emphasising the world _small_ , because to Sara, small probably meant something entirely different. “Could you also teach him how to use it so that he doesn’t end up slicing off his own fingers?” Rip tacked afterwards in a rather patronising tone.

Jax rolled his eyes, but smiled at Sara when she handed him a knife, and explained the best places to strike at someone without killing them.

“The upper leg is a no-go, because you’ll probably end up severing the femoral artery if you’re not careful…”

“So, _captain_ , what exactly are we all doing on this _mission_?” Snart’s drawled, his voice oozing sarcasm. “I assume me and my partner are here for any _acquisitions_ that need to be made.”

“Yes, Mr Snart. You and Mr Rory will be tasked with retrieving the artefact once we have managed to locate it,” Rip responded. “Miss Lance and Miss Saunders will be tasked with locating the artefact and possibly to help with the retrieval should anyone learn of our plan. Jefferson will be assisting the girls as well as myself, and I shall be going undercover with Mr Palmer, and we will posing as a two gentlemen who are interested in doing business with the Mafia regarding their slight…problem, regarding alcohol. Everyone will listen out for any information regarding Savage or the artefact.”

“What do you mean ‘problem?’ Jax asked.

“Prohibition, Jax,” Kendra said, perching next to Carter on the arm of the seat, the light catching the sequins on her dress and making them sparkle.

 _She truly is gorgeous,_ Carter thought to himself as he admired her. _In this lifetime, and in every other_.

“Shouldn’t we be doing that?” Snart asked, slightly confused as to why he and his partner were being practically benched again, and especially when dealing with thieves and criminals was what they were there for.

“I thought it would be better if you weren’t recognised when you were _casing_ the location of the artefact, Mr Snart. It would probably be rather hard to explain, and it would be rather inconvenient if they decided to dump you in the Hudson River.” Rip’s tone, however, suggested that he wouldn’t find it quite as inconvenient as he made out.

“Well, I believe we’re all ready now. Gideon, could you bring us down somewhere quiet and isolated please. And for God’s sake, please keep the cloaking up this time. We don’t need another old woman screaming her head off about UFOs and alien invasions,” Rip sighed. It was a wonder he hadn’t already gone grey with all the antics he had to put up with from both his team and his own AI.

 

* * *

 

_Amsterdam Avenue, Harlem, New York City  
_

_8:30pm_

 

“Man, how did they walk in these?” Jax complained for the umpteenth as the group trekked down the street towards ‘The Back Room’, a nice little backstreet club that Gideon had assured the team was frequented by Marconi, and was most likely where he did business.

“You can always swap with me,” Sara suggested with a smirk, gesturing to the heels she was wearing. Jax winced and shook his head, declining the offer.

“No thanks, you can keep them. Just wish I could’ve kept my trainers,” Jax groused, sulking slightly. If this was going to be like the 50s, he was going to go back to the ship and swapping with Carter, Savage’s evil plans be damned.

“Yes, because that wouldn’t have looked out of place in 1920s New York,” Snart drawled unhelpfully from behind Jax, the latter of whom turned around to glare at him, and then promptly walked into a lamppost.

“Ow. _Dammit!_ ” Jax exclaimed, clutching his face. “Who put that there?” He could distantly hear Sara, Kendra and Ray chuckling slightly, and he felt a hand clap him on the shoulder.

“Smooth, kid. Smooth,” was all Len said before walking ahead to join the rest of the group. Rip was looking distinctly unimpressed, and made a sharp motion for them to continue following him, a scowl covering his face.

Jax clutched at his nose for a couple more moments before following the group. He noticed that Mick had fallen into step next to him, and looked at his fellow team member. Jax still felt very awkward about the whole ‘movie-night-turned-sleepover-turned-Jax-drooling-on-Mick-like-he-was-a-human-pillow’ incident, and he wanted to try and apologise to the guy, really, but how the heck did you go about and bring that up? Like, _‘Hey man, sorry for drooling on you and cuddling you in my sleep. Won’t happen again’_? Yeah, Jax could really see that going well.

He cleared his throat, still half-convinced that this would end either with both of them feeling slightly awkward, but still being cool, or with Mick’s fist smashing into his face, and right now, he was pretty sure it was going to be the latter. Mick had a frown on his face, and was playing with the lighter in his hand while he muttered about missing his heat gun.

“Hey, uh, Mick, uh…about what happened after the movie night…” Jax stammered, rubbing the back of his head nervously, still trying to figure out what exactly he was going to say to the man.

“Don’t mention it, kid,” the taller man replied gruffly, continuing to flick his lighter on and off. “Ever.”

“Right. Ok. Not mentioning it. Got it,” Jax babbled slightly. Well, at least his face wasn’t damaged. Or, you know, more damaged than before the lamppost attacked him.


	7. The Roaring Twenties (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! I've actually managed to update this story in a reasonable time for once.  
> This isn't like the rest of my chapters where the focus is mainly on Jax's interaction with the rest of the team. I've given Jax a love interest in this chapter, but I promise that the next chapter won't focus so much on this, and it'll be back to the normal dysfunctional family theme.

The group had split up, with Kendra and Sara going on ahead of the boys while they loitered around the corner, discussing the plan.

“Wait, why are Kendra and Sara going on ahead?” Ray asked, still slightly confused as to the overall plan of the mission.

“This club offers a slightly more…diverse range of entertainment. That is to say, they hire professional dancers to dance with men, get them to spend more money on alcohol, both for the dancers and themselves. They even have an in-house singer, and a band as well,” Rip explained.

“Ah ok.”

“Any more questions, Dr Palmer? Or can I finally get on with my explanation?”

“Nope,” Ray replied cheerily, ignoring Rip’s rude and snappish tone.

“Good. Dr Palmer, you and I will enter the club after the girls, and will locate Marconi, though we won’t approach him immediately. Mr Rory and Mr Snart will enter 5 minutes later, and will try and pick up any talk about Savage, the artefact, or Marconi’s business dealings. Jefferson, you’ll be with Mr Rory and Mr Snart.” This caused the rogues to grumble again about how they should be the ones going undercover as criminals, since they actually _were_ criminals. Jax was fairly sure he heard Snart mutter something about Ray ‘even _looking_ like a boy scout’.

“Please, all of you, try not to start a fight with anyone, or draw any unnecessary attention to yourselves. And Mr Rory, if you could try and refrain from burning the place down, that would be very helpful. I somehow doubt Mr Marconi be particularly happy if we destroyed his most profitable establishment,” Rip tacked on with a meaningful look directed towards the Rogues.

 

* * *

 

The speakeasy was packed when Jax, Len and Mick walked in, relishing the warmth which was a welcome relief to the bitingly cold weather outside. Slow jazz music floated through the room, and there was a light haze blanketing the room from the cigarettes that most of the patrons were smoking.

Leonard and Mick led the way towards the bar, clearing a path with a few well-placed pushes that the unlucky individuals blamed on the effects on the drink. They managed to snag three seats at the bar, and Jax found himself sandwiched awkwardly between the two rogues in the tightly packed space.

“I’ll have a Gin Ricky, a South Side for him, and juice for the kid,” Len announced when the bartender finally got to their end of the bar. Jax shot the criminal a dirty look.

“Hey, come on man. It’s Prohibition. It’s not like there’s a drinking age or anything,” Jax pleaded, and he even broke out the puppy dog eyes. This would probably be his only chance to drink without having the professor on his case, and he was going to take advantage of it.

Len looked at him critically, and glanced at his partner, who merely grunted and shrugged. “Kid’s right. Can’t do much harm,” Mick muttered as he began flicking his lighter again.

“Ok then. Make that two Gin Ricky’s. You happy now, kid?” Snart drawled. Jax smiled in response, and it stayed on his face while he sipped on his drink when it finally arrived.

“Hey, look. There’s Sara and Kendra,” Jax exclaimed, and pointed to them when he spotted the two women, looking absolutely stunning in their outfits, the low light glinting off the beads and sequins as they both twirled, and the feathers bobbing and fluttering as they danced. It seemed that they were doing a stage piece with the other dancers, the moves too in sync to be spontaneous, though Jax had to wonder how Kendra and Sara had managed to learn a dance routine in 45 minutes.

Len grabbed Jax’s arm and pushed it back down. “We’re going for subtlety here, kid. That means not drawing attention to ourselves,” Snart drawled while Jax looked significantly chastised. “Finish your drink and we’ll get to work on finding Savage.”

 

* * *

 

“Mr Marconi. My name is Arthur Croft. This is my associate, Bobby Raymond. We’re here to discuss certain business opportunities that could present themselves regarding the sourcing and transport issues that you’ve been having lately with your…cargo.”

Rip and Ray were sat in Marconi’s usual booth, a table the only thing between them and the notorious crime boss, with Ray uncomfortably squished between Rip and the wall. The Italian man considered them for a moment, rubbing a hand laden with rings over his clean-shaven chin, and then slicking back his pomaded black hair.

“I have to admit, I’m intrigued by your proposal, Mr Croft,” he said in a heavy Brooklyn-Italian accent. “How exactly would you solve my…mmm… _transportation_ _problems_? ‘Cause I have to tell you, those Irish pikers are crafty. Stole my latest shipment soon as it came in. A few of my associates are going to send them a message tonight, if you take my meaning.” Marconi gave a slight chuckle at this, and Ray only just managed to hold back a grimace.

“Oh, I can assure you that transportation won’t be a problem, Mr Marconi. My own associates are very skilled at bootlegging. I don’t think there will be any problem on that front,” Rip stated confidently, and Ray held a snort, knowing that Rip was subtly referring to Snart and Rory, and thinking that they were skilled at more than just bootlegging.

“And what would you expect in return for this, uh…service, Mr Croft?” Marconi asked with a slight smack of his lips, eyes suddenly guarded and tone slightly colder than it had been a few moments ago.

“Just a small fee for each successful run. Does 10% sound fair, Mr Marconi?” At this Marconi let out a laugh.

“Very fair indeed, Mr Croft. You’ve got yourself a deal. And please, it’s Anthony. We’re business partners now,” he said, standing up and offering a hand to Rip, who stood up and shook the man’s slightly sweaty palm.

“Well, you must call me Arthur. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Anthony,” Rip said as he stepped out of the booth and gestured for Ray to follow him. “We can deliver the first shipment by this Friday.”

Marconi laughed again, and turned to face his two bodyguards, or as he called them, _associates_. Ray thought he sounded stupid. “Can you believe this guy? Isn’t he great?” He didn’t wait for either of them men to reply before he turned back to face the pair of time-travellers. “Friday sounds perfect. Ciao, Arthur, Bobby,” he said, shaking their hands, before turning to sit back in his seat.

Rip led the way out of the bar, nodding discreetly as they passed the two rogues and Jax, whom Rip noticed, with some displeasure, was drinking alcohol. He shot a glare at Snart that made it clear he’d be having words with the two rogues when they got back to the apartment they’d rented for the mission. Carter and Martin would already be waiting there, having decided that they weren’t going to be stuck on the ship for the entire duration of the mission.

 

* * *

 

“Jefferson, are you drunk?” was the first thing Stein said when he saw Jax stumble through the door of the spacious apartment. He and Carter had been sat in the armchairs in the living room, Stein reading a book that he’d brought with him from the ship, while Carter had been sharpening some of his weapons.

“No, I’m not drunk, grey. Mick, though…” Jax trailed off as said criminal was dragged through the entrance by a very unimpressed looking Snart. Jax and Carter moved to help him, and between them they managed to deposit the almost unconscious man on the sofa.

“What happened to him?” Stein asked as he looked on in disbelief.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Rip called as he and Ray slammed the door shut. “You three were meant to be back here two hours ago.” Rip’s patented ‘you’re-in-trouble’ scowl was plastered over his face as he wandered into the main room and eyed the room’s occupants. “Why was Jefferson drinking alcohol?”

“Because there’s no drinking age?” Jax muttered as he was once again excluded from the _adult’s_ (and he used to the term loosely. These people were the least mature people he’d ever known, and he knew college kids) conversation. He wandered off into the kitchen in search of food, leaving the rest of the team to argue.

“I thought you said that you wouldn’t be allowing our criminal element to lead Jefferson astray, Captain,” Stein piped up from the armchair, levelling his disapproving gaze at Rip. “Clearly that isn’t the case.”

“I assumed that they would be more responsible, though obviously I was wrong.”

“Yeah, cause they’re the most responsible people on the team,” Carter chipped in, looking up from his newly whetted blades to throw a sceptical look at both Rip and Stein.

“Says the moron who almost got us all killed,” Snart drawled from the other end of the couch, trying to make himself comfortable despite the fact that his partner was taking up most of the sofa. He’d discarded his hat on the coat rack in the hall along with both his and Mick’s jackets.

“What did you call me?”

“Yes, well, clearly this is not Mr Hall’s fault, Mr Snart. The captain should have known better than to leave Jax in your care,” Stein said matter-of-factly.

“Are you saying you can take better care of him, Professor? Remind me again, who was it who drugged and kidnapped him?” Snart snarled at the older man, who went slightly red and began to sputter rebuttals.

The argument between the four _adults_ went on for another good four minutes before Kendra and Sara burst through the door, giggling and snorting. The room went silent for a moment as they all took in what was happening. Ray broke the tense silence.

“Technically, since it’s the Prohibition era, there isn’t actually a drinking age.”

“That’s what I said,” Jax yelled from the kitchen, before cursing loudly as he dropped a bag of Oreos.

“Language, Jefferson,” chorused Rip, Stein, Carter and Kendra, who all looked oddly at each other for a moment before Sara cleared her throat.

“You know, Ray has a point,” she added in, rather unhelpfully as far as half of the team were concerned. She raised her hands in surrender when three sets of glares were directed her way. “Jeez, I’m just saying, he’s not really a kid anymore, no matter how young he is compared to the rest of us, or how much you want to mother him.” Sara aimed this last part at Kendra, who blushed and refused to meet Sara’s gaze. “Maybe you should let him live a little.”

“Oh, so you’re suggesting that we let him go out and get drunk, Miss Lance?” Rip snapped.

“No. I’m suggesting you let him have one drink and don’t make a big deal out of it. You let him have a drink after Russia,” Sara pointed out.

“Yes, Miss Lance. Russia. On the Waverider. After we’d just saved Mr Rory, Dr Palmer and Professor Stein. Not in a speakeasy in the 1920s while Savage is God knows where and could attack at any moment. Or have you forgotten our little trip to the 50s, Sara?” He threw back at her maliciously, and a dangerous look glinted in Sara’s eyes for a moment, before she schooled her features into impassiveness.

“Fine. Treat him like a child. He won’t thank you for it,” was all Sara said before she stormed towards the master bedroom.

Silence reigned for a few moments, before Ray broke it with, “Well that could have gone better.” He hastily retreated towards the second bedroom when five sets of glares settled on him.

 

* * *

 

Jax knocked tentatively on the bedroom door, and waited until he heard Sara mutter, “Come in”, before he deemed it safe to enter. Sara was on one of the four beds that had been set up in the room, reading ‘The Great Gatsby’, which made Jax chuckle softly, and Sara’s lips quirked upwards at the sound.

“Hey Jax,” she said as she sat upright, folding over the corner of the page. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m ok. Thanks for earlier, and, you know, going to bat for me and all about the whole drinking thing,” he thanked her with a broad smile, which must have been infectious, because Sara smiled brightly back at him.

“That’s ok, Jax. You’re not a little kid, and they should start realising that. You’re almost an adult, now. 21. And you’ve done things that no one else your age has done. You should be allowed to live your life a little, and to act like a typical 21 year old.”

“You mean party hard and get wasted?” Jax laughed at the face Sara pulled.

“No. Well, sort of. Maybe not the wasted part,” she laughed with him. “But, when I was your age, I was out with my friends, partying and drinking, and not fighting monsters and mayhem. You deserve to be given a little slack for all that.”

“Thanks, Sara,” he responded earnestly.

“Ok, enough of the feelings crap. How about tomorrow, you and I ditch the others and I’ll take you to all the best places the 20s has to offer?” She suggested with a devious smirk, and mischievous look in her eye. Jax grinned.

“Yeah ok. That sounds awesome.”

“Good. Now go to bed and get some sleep. Even adults need sleep sometime.”

Jax’s grin stayed in placed even as he made up the bed on the other side of the room, next to the one Ray would probably be sleeping in, unless he and Snart decided to have a slumber party.

 

* * *

 

The next morning could probably be compared to hell on earth, and Jax really wasn’t exaggerating with this description.

He’d woken up first as usual, only to discover that the crappy apartment didn’t have any hot water at 5 in the morning, leading to him waking up Sara and Ray with his startled yelp at the temperature of the water. Which, of course, caused Sara to burst in, thinking that there was an attack, and Jax hastily wrapping a towel around his waist to save what little modesty he had left.

“Hot water’s not working,” he explained as Sara lowered her knife and came out of her fighting stance.

“Oh, ok. Building’s old. Probably don’t get any hot water until later,” she said as she left Jax in peace to finish off trying to get ready.

The morning only continued to get worse. Mick was the last of the team to wake up, and as predicted, he had one of the worst hangovers known to man, and had been growling at anyone who came close to him, including his partner, and would only stop growling to accept the coffee proffered by Kendra. Thankfully though, Stein hadn’t been allowed any alcohol, so at least they didn’t have to deal with a hungover Stein, which was definitely worse than a hungover Mick.

Sara and Rip were also still avoiding each other. Or, avoiding each other as best as they could in a cramped apartment with an open-plan living are and tiny kitchen. Sara glared daggers at Rip whenever he was in her way, and Rip had maintained a stony silence for the entire morning. Len also seemed to ignoring Rip, as well as Stein and Carter, whom he still hadn’t forgiven for their comments the night before.

Mick, of course, was blissfully unaware of all of this, and Jax was almost surprised that they managed to get through the morning without anyone being stabbed or shot. Especially considering the amount of weapons that were covering the living room table, and considering Stein had been complaining about said weapons all morning, as well as the clutter of the apartment. Even Jax was starting to eye the butter knife when Rip announced that they should perhaps all take a break and go out to get some space from each other for a while. For the first time all morning, and probably most of the mission, both Sara and Len agreed with him.

That was how Jax somehow found himself being dragged around department stores with Kendra, Ray and Carter, the latter of whom decided to abandon them after half an hour, declaring that he’d had 4000 years of being dragged shopping with Kendra, and he wasn’t eager to spend any more time looking at dresses that all looked the same.

Jax was disappointed that he hadn’t been allowed to go with Sara and the rogues, but the twin looks of disapproval that Stein and Rip had given him told him exactly what they thought of that idea, and so he’d decided to follow Ray, who’d decided to follow Carter, who had obligingly followed Kendra right up until she’d headed into Macy’s.

“Fuck this shit,” was all he’d said before heading off in search of the nearest speakeasy that would be open at 11am. And everyone thought Mick had the drinking problem.

“Hey, uh, Ray. You won’t tell anyone if I head off, will you?” Jax asked hopefully, silently pleading that Ray would be ok with this like he had been the night before with the alcohol.

“You sure that’s a good idea, buddy?” Ray questioned, though it was clear he was more concerned about Jax getting lost or hurt, than he was about what the others would think.

“Yeah, Ray, I’ll be fine. I can find my way around, and take care of myself,” Jax assured his friend, who nodded and looked slightly happier and more reassured than before.

“Ok. I’ll tell Kendra you headed off with Carter. She shouldn’t worry about you then,” he replied with a smile, and gestured for Jax to go and explore.

“Thanks Ray.”

 

* * *

 

Jax spent the entire day exploring Manhattan, going for lunch at a little Italian place that he would later swear had the best pizza he’d tasted in his life (minus his mother’s, of course), and picking up little trinkets that he thought his mom might appreciate. He also picked up a couple of vinyl records that he thought might lighten the mood in the apartment.

It was only when it was getting dark that Jax noticed that it had been almost 7 hours since he’d left Ray and Kendra at the store, and cursed himself for not thinking to get Gideon to fabricate him a watch or pick one up before he left the apartment that morning.

Jax was hurrying back to the apartment when he heard it. There were sounds of a fight coming from a couple of alleys over. Jax could hear the voices of at least three men, and the pained whimpers of another person, probably a man as well.

He looked round the corner of the alley and saw three fairly large men huddled around a deathly pale man lying on the cold ground, his once shirt dirty and stained with his own blood. The men were laying into him, kicking him and punching him wherever they could. It wasn’t right. They were being cowards, picking on someone smaller than them.

Jax crept towards them silently, mentally thanking Sara for teaching him how to sneak up on people, even if half the time she used this skill to creep up on him and make him jump. He set down his bag and cautiously lifted up a metal pipe lying next to a pile of rubble.

He swung the length of pipe at the first guy, catching him by surprise, whacking him over the head and knocking him out cold in one solid hit. His body crumpled to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and Jax internally congratulated himself.

However, he was momentarily distracted by his minor victory, and didn’t see the second guy swing until his fist collided with the side of Jax’s face, the sheer force behind the blow causing him to stumble backwards and drop the pipe, and he was almost certain that the rings the guy was wearing had left an imprint on his face.

The third guy, who had black hair and a scar down the side of his face (who eerily reminded Jax of Ernst Blofeld), began to move to the side, circling round, as the second guy wound up for another punch, which Jax skilfully dodged, and he went in for a counter-attack, punching the guy in the stomach as he left himself exposed.

The second guy, whom Jax had by now nicknamed ‘Goldfinger’, stumbled back a few paces, and smirked evilly as ‘Blofeld’ lunged at Jax, side-stepped the attack neatly, causing the man to fly right into the concrete floor. He picked up the pipe and swung it at the scarred man as he attempted yet another clumsy attack, catching him in the stomach and winding him, before swinging it down onto ‘Goldfinger’s’ wrist. The resulting loud _snap_ of his bones, followed by a pained scream, made Jax wince slightly in sympathy.

The two men were clearly no longer in the mood to fight, and they backed out of the alleyway, eyeing Jax warily, as though they thought he was going to come after them.

Once both men were out of sight, Jax crouched down next to the smaller injured man. At this distance, he could see that the ginger-haired man had bruises and cuts covering most of his body, and Jax would be surprised if he didn’t have at least a couple of broken ribs and other bones as well.

“Hey, man. You ok?” He asked in concern as the guy groaned again. “Can you get up?”

The man nodded weakly, and Jax helped the guy, albeit unsteadily, to his feet, and propped him up against the wall as he retrieved his bag, before returning to help the man walk down the alley.

Up close, Jax could see that he must have only been in his early twenties, and he had a light smattering of freckles across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. His ginger hair was unkempt and tangled, though not the kind of dirty you’d expect if somebody was living on the streets. His clothes, too, were fairly nice underneath the dirt that had resulted from his beating. He was also about the same height as Jax, an inch or two taller at a second guess, and with similar muscle mass as well. _He must have been caught off guard,_ Jax thought to himself as he catalogued all of this. _Either that or he’s even worse than I am at fighting_.

“What’s your name?” Jax asked as they exited the alleyway into the still fairly busy street. The pair got a few odd looks as they traipsed down the alley, the stranger’s arm slung over his shoulder as Jax half-dragged, half-carried the guy down the street.

“Seamus,” he replied. Even if the name hadn’t given him a clue, the accent would have.

“You Irish?” Jax asked the man, whose eyes suddenly became guarded.

“Yeah. What of it?” He answered defensively, and Jax suddenly had a bad feeling about what he’d interrupted. Now that he thought of it, two of those men had looked vaguely familiar.

“Nothing, man. Just surprised. So, anywhere you want to be dropped off?” Jax hastily changed the subject, trying to get the stranger – _Seamus_ , to drop the wary look that covered his face. Jax had to admit that it was a very handsome face, and wondered what Seamus would look like if he smiled.

It seemed to work slightly, and he grinned slightly and said, “O’Reilly’s. Underground juice joint a few blocks from here. And what’s your name?”

“Jefferson. Uh, Jackson. Jefferson Jackson. Uh, Jax, for short,” Jax stuttered, his brain seeming to shut down when Seamus turned that smile on him. He cursed himself for being such a fool in front of someone else, but his antics seemed to amuse Seamus.

“Jefferson Jackson, huh? Boy, you ma must’a really liked those presidents,” he said with a slight laugh. It was an old joke that he’d heard before, but Jax couldn’t help but laugh along with the man.

“Yeah. Got a lot of shit for it at school,” Jax admitted with a small laugh.

“So, _Jax_ ,” Seamus dragged out the name, and Jax found himself staring at Seamus’ pink, split lips for a moment, before snapping his eyes back up to other’s. “What’s a kid like you doin’ wanderin’ streets like these at night?” The Irish inquired with a cheeky smile. “You some sorta Flyboy, or drugstore cowboy looking for a dame?”

“Hey, one, I’m not a kid, I’m 20. And two, I was on my way home when I saw some guy getting the crap beat out of him. Figured I better help him before he gets his ass kicked,” he replied with an equally cheeky smirk.

“Oh, so that’s how it is?”

“That’s how it is.”

Both men burst into laughter, startling some of the other people on the sidewalk, and causing them to be the subject of even more odd looks. Jax sobered slightly when he saw a woman looking at them disgustedly before whispering to the friend beside her. _Oh, great! It’s the 50s all over again_ , Jax thought to himself miserably. Seamus seemed to notice the drop in his companion’s mood.

“Hey, you ok?”

“Uh, yeah, come on. You gotta tell me where we’re going.”

 

* * *

 

O’Reilly’s was even bigger and louder than ‘The Back Room’ if it was possible. Seamus had insisted that Jax come in so he could get him a drink, a ‘thank you for saving his life’ was what he’d called it. Jax had been reluctant at first, conscious of the time, knowing that if he didn’t get home soon, then the others would probably get worried. He gave in, however, when Seamus promised that it would only be one drink, and that he’d even escort him home (which Jax had vehemently denied was necessary, but Seamus didn’t seem to be the type to take no for an answer).

“Hey, Jim!” Seamus called down to the bartender, having to raise his voice to be heard over the din of drunken voices and loud swing music being played. “Get us two bourbons, would you?”

“You know, this really ain’t necessary,” Jax tried again, but Seamus fixed him with a look and a raised eyebrow that said Jax wouldn’t be getting out of it that easily. “Alright.”

“That’s the spirit,” he said, clapping Jax on the back, causing Jax to rock forwards slightly. He realised that there was no way the Seamus wouldn’t have been able to take on those guys in the alley, and that he must have been ambushed or something similar. “So, what are you doing in these parts, _Jefferson Jackson_? ‘Cause you obviously aren’t a native New Yorker.” At the last statement, Jax gave him a slightly puzzled look. “No sane person in New York decides to get involved in a fight against three guys, for a guy that he doesn’t even know,” Seamus explained as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Oh. Well, where I come from, we try and help people out,” Jax tried to dodge Seamus’ question, a little voice in his head that sounded a lot like Rip chiming, _telling him who you are and where you’re from could disrupt the timeline_. Seamus waited for him to go on, and Jax told the annoying little voice to shut up. “I’m from Central City,” he finally admitted, and Seamus’ eyes lit up in recognition.

“You’re a Central boy. Didn’t have you pegged as a city boy. Was thinking more ‘middle-a-nowhere, Indiana’ being honest,” Seamus said as he passed Jax his glass of bourbon and sipped from his own. “Whoa, slow down there,” he said as Jax accidentally took a large gulp of alcohol and began to cough.

“What is that? Paint thinner?” Jax wheezed, bending over and resting his hands on his knees. Seamus laughed loudly, and Jax found that he rather liked that laugh.

“It could be. Never know what goes into this stuff. Most of the gin in this place is made in Caoimhe’s bathtub, and I’m scared to think about where the vodka and rum come from,” Seamus told him as he patted Jax’s back while Jax tried to get his breathing back under control.

After a few minutes, Jax had recovered enough to try another, _very small_ , sip of what he suspected was actual white spirit, and found that after a few swallows, the liquid had destroyed his taste buds enough that he was able to manage to drink it.

“You sure I’m not gonna go blind or something, drinking this stuff?” Seamus actually looked offended for a minute, and Jax was actually worried that he’d over-stepped the mark, before Seamus grinned and shrugged.

“Who knows?”

A raucous cheer from the corner of the room startled the pair, and Jax backed up slightly, bumping into Seamus, who steadied him with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Whoa there. You ok, pal?”

“Yeah.”

“So, Jax, level with me. What brings a Central City boy to New York? Not on the lam, are you?”

“I’m, uh, I’m here with my family. They’re here for a while for business,” Jax told him, deciding that half-lies were probably better than the truth, and hoping that Seamus wouldn’t be able to see through his deception. “What were you doing in that alley?” Jax countered, trying to deflect attention away from him.

“Taking a midnight stroll, when three Italian bastards jumped me. What kind of business?”

“Just, you know, business. They never tell me anything,” Jax muttered bitterly, and Seamus backed off for a moment. “Why’d they jump you?”

“They’re Mafia. And I’m in the Irish mob,” Seamus admitted honestly, looking at Jax to gage is reaction. He'd guessed that Jax probably had some sort of ties to the underworld if he was being so cryptic about his reasons for being in New York.

Jax tried to keep his face neutral, though he was fairly sure his surprise showed. Of course, the first person he met in this era would turn out to be part of a major criminal group, and Seamus continued with his explanation. “Sent by some big shot named...M – something. Marks, or Marco. Marconi,” he exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. “Said that Marconi wanted to send a message. Said we’ve gotta stop stealing their bootleg before they do us all in.” Seamus paused and looked down at his empty glass. “Hey, Jim, get us some more hooch, would ya?”

Jax glanced at the old-style clock on the back wall, and startled slightly at the time it read. “Hey, nice as this has been, I’m gonna need to get going.”

“Oh, come on now. One more drink,” Seamus cheered, and Jax noticed that a cut above his eyebrow had re-opened, and his eyes tracked the blood as it carved a trail down the man’s cheek. He looked back up, and saw Seamus watching him intensely.

“Ok, one more. And maybe someone should look at your cuts, man. They’re pretty bad,” Jax suggested, anxiously gesturing to the bleeding gash, and moving to wipe away the blood with his handkerchief. He caught Jax’s wrist in a surprisingly firm grip, and continued to hold onto it as he downed poison in his glass, and tossed some money towards the bartender. He tugged Jax by wrist as he moved towards the door, and quickly led him up the steps and round the corner into a dark alley.

For a moment, Jax wondered if he’d misjudged Seamus, if the rest of the team would find his body floating in the Hudson in the morning, as he was pinned against the wall, the pair shrouded in shadows, before a wet, warm mouth was pressed against his.

Jax responded to the impromptu kiss as best as he could, and was mildly disappointed when the Irish man pulled away from him, seemingly looking at Jax for evidence that he’d enjoyed the kiss, or at any rate, wasn’t completely disgusted by it.

“Right –” Jax’s voice cracked slightly, and he coughed, embarrassed. “Wasn’t expecting that,” he panted, catching his breath. “I really do have to get home though,” he said reluctantly once his breathing was back under control, and he let Seamus escort him all the way home. And if Jax kissed him on the bottom step to the apartment, well, that was no one’s business but his.


	8. The Roaring Twenties (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jax is in trouble, and is also terrible at sneaking back into the family house, Kendra is most definitely Mama Bird, Ray is a terrible liar, and really, you'd think that being time-travelling space-ship, the Waverider would have better security. Or has Gideon just given up caring when it comes to this bunch of idiots?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so terribly sorry for this chapter. Not just because it's incredibly late, but also because of what happens to Jax. If you don't like torture, violence, or anything horrible, especially when it happens to precious cinnamon rolls, I advise you to skip this chapter, because it is neither happy nor funny. I blame watching Hannibal for this train-wreck of a chapter. Though it does have a happy, maybe funny-ish ending.

_Unknown Location_

_Friday, 10pm_

Vaguely, somewhere in the distance, Jax could hear talking, though it sounded distorted and muted, as though he were underwater, listening to something far away. He twisted his head in the direction of the noise, or at least, where he thought the noise was coming from, because it was so hard to tell. He tried to open his eyes, slowly, the blackness unnerving and unsettling, though he aborted the attempt when his vision was assaulted by harsh, intense lights.

When Jax tried to shuffle forwards, he found that he was unable to. He was sat on his knees, his lower legs beneath the rest of his body, and his arms were twisted backwards and upwards, towards the sky, the burning in his strained muscles only becoming apparent to him then. As far as he could tell, his hands were bound behind him with some sort of chain, the thick, freezing metal of the links slowly cutting off his circulation, pins and needles prickling in his hands. Jax tried to wriggle once again, and this time his arms pulled painfully, and Jax was forced to stifle a groan.

“I see that you are awake, Mr. Jackson.”

Jax’s blood ran cold as his struggles ceased. He knew that voice. He desperately wished he didn’t.

“I also see that your friends are coming to join us. Perhaps you had better open your eyes, Mr. Jackson. Or is it Jefferson? I get so confused with American names.”

Jax stifled a scream when a blade curved its way down his bare chest, digging in cruelly, creating a thin, but deep trail. He could feel blood from the wound continue its path down towards his stomach. His eyes sprang open, and he had to blink a couple of times before his vision cleared sufficiently. In front of him was Savage, crouched down at Jax’s level, holding a silver knife that glinted wickedly in the bright lights.

“What are your colleagues after, Mr. Jackson? If you don’t tell me, I’m afraid I will have to hurt you.”

Jax stubbornly clenched his jaw, refusing to answer Savage. He already knew that he wasn’t going to get out of this unscathed, and he certainly wasn’t going to give up his friends to Savage. He stared defiantly at the man in front of him, daring him to do his worst.

Savage grinned.

“Well, then, let’s begin.”

 

* * *

 

_20 hours earlier_

Jax waited outside the apartment door for a moment, pressing his ear against the wooden surface and listening for any sounds of movement. He’d debated trying to shimmy his way the drainpipe and into the bedroom, like he’d done when he was a freshman sneaking out to go to football games and meeting friends. However, that was a few years ago now, and Jax was fairly sure that he couldn’t climb up three storeys normally, even if he hadn’t been slightly tipsy with a torn ACL.

After determining that there didn’t appear to be anyone up and about, he slowly opened the door and entered the dark hallway, carefully swinging the door shut behind him, and hanging up his coat and hat on the rack, slipping off his shoes so that he could quietly tiptoe through the living room.

He was slowly making his way towards the bedroom when the lights suddenly flickered on, making him squint against the harsh glow. He spun around on his feel, and stumbled backwards slightly when he saw that the _entire_ team was stood in the living room, with expressions ranging from slight amusement, to anxious disappointment, to annoyance and anger.

“Did you have fun?” Sara attempted to adopt a disappointed tone, though the small smirk on her face gave away her amusement at the entire situation. _Well, at least one person is happy,_ Jax thought to himself. _Or, at least, not completely pissed off,_ he added as he looked at Rip and Carter’s expressions.

“Uhh…” Jax’s mind stalled as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t incense the others. However, his lack of an answer seemed to incite Rip to anger well enough, as he stood up from his armchair, in a rather over-dramatic fashion in Jax’s opinion, and his face began to turn red.

“That’s not the point here, Miss Lance!” Rip exploded. Jax took a hesitant step backwards, unused to Rip displaying this kind of anger. He’d seen the man become irritated with Mick and Len whenever they convinced Jax to hijack the ship so they could steal some sort of artefact or priceless jewels, but he’d never seen him like this. “Where were you, Jefferson?! Because you obviously weren’t with Mr Hall like Mr Palmer told us.” Rip scowled at Ray, who looked down at his hands, sporting a rather guilty look.

Jax immediately regretted asking Ray to lie for him. Ray wasn’t a liar by nature, and while it had only been a harmless lie at first, Jax was sure that when the others had discovered he was missing, Ray had most likely received the brunt of their worry, and their accusations. He vowed to make it up to Ray in some way, by apologising, and maybe taking the jump ship to that little shop in Paris that sold the macaroons that Ray seemed to have fallen in love the last time they were all there, hunting for Savage.

“Uhh…” He continued to flail for an answer, and then his mind suddenly kicked into gear. “I was – uh – out shopping.” Jax blurted out the first thing that came to mind that wasn’t also a total lie. He even had evidence to back it up, and he gestured to the bag he’d abandoned in the hallway.

Rip didn’t seem particularly impressed by this answer. “For 12 hours?!” Rip’s face had turned a very odd shade of red, and for a moment Jax was actually worried that he might keel over from a heart-attack or a stroke, because he was fairly sure people weren’t meant to turn that colour, even if they were absolutely furious.

“There was a – uh – long checkout queue?” He replied uncertainly, more a question than an answer.

Rip’s face contorted, and Jax genuinely thought that Rip was having a heart attack for a moment, before he huffed and stormed out of the room and into the kitchen, where he could then be heard making cups of tea (probably laced with a liberal amount of alcohol).

Kendra rushed over to the boy and threw her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. “We thought Savage had caught you,” she muttered as she held Jax close, half-hugging him, half-strangling him. It was a bit hard to breathe when Kendra decided to hug someone, especially when she was worried, as she usually ended up forgetting her own strength.

“Kendra. Need. To. Breathe,” Jax gasped as he felt his ribs start to cave and his lungs began to struggle to take in oxygen. He was released suddenly, and he gulped in as much air as he could. Kendra held him at arm’s length as she surveyed him, checking for any injuries and bruises. Jax subtly hid his bruised and scraped knuckles, knowing that it would just set her off onto one of her protective rants or rages. Those could be fairly scary.

“You can’t scare us like that again, Jax. We were all so _worried_. And you’re definitely grounded,” Kendra declared as she hugged him again, ignoring Jax’s protests at her declaration.

“Whoa, wait, what?” Jax tried to pull out away, confused and slightly stunned at what Kendra had said. “What do you mean I’m ‘grounded’? You guys do realise I’m 20, right. Not 12. Right?” Jax asked, wanting clarification of what he’d just heard. That seemed to have become his catchphrase now. Kendra simply patted him on the cheek affectionately, before breezing into the master bedroom.

“Our _captain_ made the executive decision to bench you,” Snart piped up from where he was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, inspecting his nails in a parody of faux-boredom. He didn’t look particularly happy (well, he looked more displeased than usual), though Jax couldn’t tell if it was directed towards himself or Rip’s decision.

“He does realise I’m an adult, right?” His question was met with silence, and awkward shifting and shuffling, and that was all the answer he needed. “Seriously?!”

“Well, now that we’ve covered the consequences, care to tell us why Ray told us you were with me?” Carter asked, leaning forwards and pinning him down with a fierce glare. He looked about 5 seconds way from hawking-out, and Jax wasn’t too keen on pissing him off any further. “Do you realise how much shit I got for ‘losing you’?”

Oh, Jax was in so much trouble.

“Haha. Uh, well, you see, I – um – err – Ray?” He looked pleading at the other man, desperate for help, but Ray looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, and his mouth gaped open and closed like a goldfish a few times, before he bolted into the bathroom, leaving him to face Carter’s wrath alone.

Well, alone as he could be with two criminals, an assassin, a hawk demi-god, a supposedly-dead scientist, and...wait, where was –

“Where’s Grey?” Jax asked confusedly, looking around the room to check that he hadn’t somehow overlooked the older man.

“Went to bed early. Never even knew you were gone,” Snart smirked at this, and Jax knew he’d dodged a bullet there. Stein _would_ have had a heart attack if he’d known Jax was missing. He let out a sigh of relief and began to edge towards the bedroom, planning on going to bed just to avoid the rest of the team’s questions.

“So…are you gonna tell us who that guy was, Jax?”

Jax cursed every single possible thing in the universe that had decided that he’d have to endure this alternate kind of torture. He’d prefer being kidnapped by Vandal Savage, over answering awkward questions regarding his love life any day. He then cursed Sara and her sneaky-assassin-spying skills. And the League of Assassins for teaching her. And Grey for dragging him on this mission in the first place.

“Dunno who you mean,” he lied, and held back a wince at how unconvincing and pathetic it sounded, even to his own ears. He turned around and scrambled towards the bedroom door, but Sara was quicker and blocked his way. Sara may have been a couple of inches shorter than him, but Jax knew better than to try and get past her. He’d have his ass handed to him _and_ he’d still have to answer her questions.

“Oh really?” she said disbelievingly, raising an eyebrow. “So tall redhead with freckles who kissed you on the bottom step doesn’t ring any bells?”

Jax gave her a dirty look as he huffed exasperatedly, resigned to his fate.

“I’ve gotta say, you’ve got good taste,” she continued, winking at him lasciviously, and patting him on the shoulder in an almost congratulatory manner. “And you’re the first one to hook up with someone from this decade.”

“It’s all right, kid. We won’t tell _time dad_ that you’ve been seducing the locals,” Snart added, rather unhelpfully in Jax’s opinion. He rolled his eyes at the man’s comment and was about shoot a snarky reply back at him when Rip bellowed, “Stop calling me ‘Time Dad’!”

The rest of the legends just about managed to stifle their laughter.

Just.

“Let’s forget about Jefferson’s _boyfriend_ for a minute, and get back to the question of _what the hell did you think you were doing?!_ ” Carter hissed, obviously not amused. “You told Ray to tell Kendra that you were with me. Do you have any idea how _pissed_ Kendra was when I said that I had no idea where you were?” Carter’s accent thickened as his anger grew, and the tension in the room was almost palpable.

“She pinned him against the wall, her eyes turned red, and she went all ‘hawk-warrior-princess’ on his ass. He thought she was going to rip his throat out,” Sara laughed, and continued to laugh even when Carter glowered at her. Well, at least one person was finding the whole thing funny.

“Sorry, Carter. I didn’t want to go shopping with Kendra, and I didn’t know what to say, so I lied,” Jax admitted, deciding to omit the fact that the whole ‘going off with Carter’ thing had been Ray’s idea. He’d already put Ray in an awkward position, and he wasn’t going to drop him in it again.

Carter still looked furious, though he looked slightly less murderous than before. After a few beats of silence, he heaved a sigh and stood up from the sofa. “Don’t do it again,” he told the boy sternly, before trudging into the kitchen to grab himself a mug of coffee.

Jax decided that now was the perfect time to make his escape, and he made a beeline for the bathroom. At least probably wouldn’t follow him into the bathroom. Though, knowing the assassin and her _legendary_ (pun intended) _lack_ of respect for other people’s privacy and her own lack of modesty, he wasn’t entirely sure about that.

 

* * *

 

_Later_

The torture went on for what felt likes hours. Perhaps it was, but Jax couldn’t tell. He’d lost his watch at some point during the day, and there wasn’t a clock anywhere in the warehouse. The place was spartan, with bare metal and brick walls, and chains hanging down from metal girders that criss-crossed the room.

Savage carved another symbol into Jax’s skin, digging in deep, slicing through the muscle in Jax’s arm. He’d long since gone hoarse from screaming, throat dry and rough, though a rasping cry still left his lips, causing Savage to grin manically, the expression cutting across his face in a cruel, thin line.

Jax’s head dropped, chin pressing against his chest as Savage added another piece of _artwork_ now covering Jax’s wounded body. His breath came out in uneven wheezes and puffs as he fought not to lose consciousness, though he wasn’t sure that unconsciousness would not be preferable to this torture. At least then, he wouldn’t be awake for this, and he wouldn’t be able to talk, to give in and tell Savage what he wanted to know.

 _WHERE ARE YOU?_ Jax screamed through the bond to Stein. He’d been trying to block the bond, trying to save Stein from this torture, so that only one of them would be marred by this, have to endure this.

But now he was desperate. He wanted them to save him. He didn’t care if he had to endure a million lectures from Stein and Rip, or training from Sara and Carter, or Kendra’s god-awful health smoothies that she mixed up, or actually listening to Ray explain the science of the suit, or even accompany Mick and Len on heists, for the rest of his life. He just wanted this to stop. He wanted them to come for him.

This time it was a tear that carved its way down his cheek, mingling with the blood already pooled on his cheek.

Savage turned his back on him as he walked over to a tray full of implements that Jax couldn’t quite see. He carefully placed the knife on the tray, though not before admiring the blood that stained the blade in the bright lights. He then selected a large, metal hammer, with a large, flat, rectangular head and two curved prongs at the back that thinned into malicious spikes. It was like no hammer Jax had ever seen before, probably specifically designed for inflicting pain.

While Savage had his back to Jax, he felt a burning on his thigh, and for a moment, he thought that Savage had somehow done even more damage to him than he’d realised. But when he looked down, he saw letters begin to carve themselves into his skin.

_W E ‘ R E   C O M I N G_

 

* * *

 

_10 hours earlier_

“The plan for today is this: Miss Saunders and Miss Lance will break into the office in The Back Room, and look for any unexplained business dealings, any hidden properties, warehouses, assets. Anything that seems suspicious, though not the usual mafia dealings. Try and look for anything pertaining to Savage,” he announced, looking at the two women, before looking over at Stein. “If you do find anything, bring it back here. Professor Stein will help you sort through it.” They each nodded.

“Good. Mr Snart, Mr Rory, Mr Hall and Jefferson, your job will be to begin investigating the warehouses and properties that we already know Savage owns in this time. I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you where to look. However, Savage may use an advanced metamaterial cloaking device to hide the object from prying eyes.”

“What exactly is this artefact, Rip?” Len asked from where he was perched on the kitchen counter. Kendra made a shooing noise and gestured for him to get down. Len rolled his eyes, but complied, sliding off the counter and moving to stand next to his partner.

“It’s called ‘The Orb of Transmutation’, which is a rather ridiculous name. However, it is apt. After our sojourn to Victorian London, our presence accidentally caused the discovery of the orb. An English explorer set out to Egypt to uncover the orb a few years after he witnessed the events in London. And he found it, underneath the sand. And then it was taken by a debt collector, who then sold it to the Mafia 30 years later to pay off his debts,” Rip explained, expression clouded and dismayed, as he recognised that it was their fault for altering the timeline and causing this to happen.

“The orb gives the wielder the ability to change events in time. The ability to stop someone from dying, or stop someone from living. Gideon believes that Savage will use the orb to stop Chay-ara from dying, while also killing Khufu, which will change the timeline. Permanently.”

A weight seemed to descend on everyone’s shoulders, holding them down in place. The enormity and importance on their task was clear now, and it was terrifying. Even if they weren’t able to kill Savage this time, even if they failed in that task, they couldn’t fail in the one they had just been given. Otherwise, Carter would cease to exist, and so would Kendra, since she wouldn’t reincarnate, and Savage would take over the world. Most of them would likely not exist if Savage succeeded.

“Mr Palmer, you and I shall pay another visit to Marconi, and try to find out what business he’s been doing with Savage, and where exactly Savage is. We’ll also try and narrow down the search area for you,” he said Jax, Carter and the rogues. “We’ll rendezvous back here at 8pm with any information, unless you find Savage or the artefact.”

Rip looked around for confirmation. “Go team.”

They split up, grabbing any gear that they needed, before heading out in their groups.

 

* * *

 

_Later_

“Ah, ah, ah,” Savage tutted as Jax tried to shift his body out of reach. Savage caught his ankle and dragged him back towards him. Jax kicked out at the psychopath, trying to dislodge his grip rather than do any damage, though he felt like smiling when his foot connected with Savage’s face. However, when he tried to quirk his lips upwards, several of the half-healed cuts on his face reopened and blood began to trickle into his face.

“Raise him up,” Savage commanded, directing it towards someone outside of Jax’s peripheral vision, and until that point, Jax hadn’t realised that they weren’t alone.

Jax bit back a scream as his arms were almost torn out their sockets when the chain was dragged upwards and over the girder with a terrible screeching sound, dragging the rest of Jax’s body with it. He ended up dangling above the ground, feet a couple inches from touching the ground, toes barely brushing against the floor. The cuts on his arms had also reopened, and more blood drops spattered on the floor in a steady _drip, drip, drip._

Savage waved the hammer that he’d picked up in Jax’s face, and began to explain what had happened to the previous people he’d tortured using that hammer. “Really, Mr Marconi makes him for his lack of sense with his spectacular creativity and imagination regarding pain. He designed this tool himself, made it to first break the bones, and then to rip them from the person’s body, using these spikes here, you see,” Savage described as he trailed his finger almost fondly along the spikes.

There was no warning before Savage swung the hammer into Jax’s right knee. Jax bit through his bottom lip as he tried to hold back his scream, and then cried out in agony when Savage struck the knee once again, shattering the kneecap. Jax had thought that tearing his ACL was painful, but this was beyond description. Jax wished for oblivion now. He needed it. He wouldn’t survive this. Of that, he was certain.

But equally, he wasn’t going to give up the team. He would have to endure for as long as he could. The team would find him, they would save him, they would find the artefact and defeat Savage and everything would be fine. He repeated this mantra in his head.

When the third blow was directed towards his ribs, Jax did lose consciousness. It was a relief.

 

* * *

 

_3 hours earlier_

Jax stared through the binoculars at the sprawling warehouse in front of him. The group had split up a while ago, deciding that it would be better if they searched the sprawling site individually to save time. Jax’s group had already been round three other warehouse lots when Sara and Kendra had found the site they were currently searching, hidden in Marconi’s outgoings. It covered about half a mile in each direction, and had over 140 warehouses and storage sheds on it. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Or a needle in a needle-stack. It was virtually impossible, and Jax was almost ready to give up on this particular warehouse when he saw movement in his peripheral vision.

A few hundred metres way, approaching the warehouse he was observing, were a couple of Marconi’s goons, and another taller, broader figure, clad in a dark suit and hat with a broad rim, covering his face. Jax ducked down when the mysterious figure looked his way, and had to cover his mouth to stop a gasp when he saw the face.

Savage.

The three men entered the warehouse as Jax crouched behind a large metal box, the door screeching as it moved, before slamming shut. Jax counted to five before peeking over the edge of the crate to make sure they weren’t still there.

Normally, Jax would have gone to get the others for back-up, but he had no idea where exactly they were, and he wasn’t about to lose Savage and the chance of retrieving the orb just because the others didn’t think he could handle himself and needed back-up. No, he’d just go in as discreetly as possible, scout the place out, perhaps see if the orb was anywhere obvious. Even, he wasn’t dumb or reckless enough to approach Savage head on.

Jax looked around, his head swinging left and right as he checked that the coast was clear, before he made a quick dash (as quick as he could manage since his knee was playing up) across to the warehouse, and hid in the shadows for a few moments, pressing his ear against the door to hear what was going on inside. When he heard nothing, Jax slowly unlatched the door, and, as carefully as he possibly could, opened the door, inch by inch, trying to make sure that it didn’t make that terrible screeching sound.

The warehouse was dark when Jax entered, and he made sure to gently close the door behind him. He spied a light in the far corner of the warehouse through a doorway, and heard faint mutterings. Jax crept towards the light, crouching low, and ducked behind a steel pillar when one of the men emerged from the other room. He heard a set of footsteps walk towards him, then stop. Jax froze, not even daring to breathe. Perhaps he should have waited for other after all.

After several moments of silence, Jax risked a peek round the edge of the pillar, and saw, quite perplexingly, that there was no one there. In fact, even the voices from the other room had stopped. Jax only registered the quiet footsteps until it was too late, and when he turned in the direction of the sound, the last thing he saw was a large, metal pipe being swung towards his head.

 

* * *

 

“Welcome back, Mr. Jackson. Have you changed your mind yet?”

Jax’s vision swam back into focus, blurry at first, and covered in a slight red film, which he realised was blood. His blood. Slowly, he began to make out the room again, and saw that Savage was still holding that wretched hammer, coated in the dark crimson of Jax’s blood. Mercifully, it didn’t seem that Savage had used the spiked part of the hammer, though Jax wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to tell. He was in the kind of pain that you had to experience before you could even begin to imagine what it was like.

In response to Savage’s question, Jax gathered up what little saliva was left in his mouth, and spat at the man. It landed on Savage’s cheek, and Jax mentally congratulated himself on making such an excellent shot.

Savage’s manic grin dropped from his face, and he wiped the spittle off his face carefully with a handkerchief from his blazer pocket. For a moment, Jax thought that Savage might attack him again with the hammer, but he didn’t. A calm look settled on Savage’s face, and the hairs on the back of Jax’s neck stood up on end. This look was infinitely more terrifying than Savage’s anger.

“I think,” the man began, wandering back towards the tray of instruments that Jax could now see, “that whatever I do, you will not talk, will you, Mr Jackson? I think that, you would never betray your teammates, would you?”

Jax stared at him as defiantly as he possibly could, though he doubted he looked very intimidating, strung up like a pig in a butcher’s shop, blood dripping from his face and every limb, defeated.

Savage picked up the battery pack that Jax had seen resting on the table, next to the tray, and several electrode patches. Jax suddenly had a horrible vision, one that he’d first had when Ray had described the torture he and Mick had endured in the Russian gulag. He remembered how Ray had described the electric torture in vivid detail, describing it so well and so accurately that Jax had been able to see it in his mind. It had given him nightmares for a week.

Now, Jax felt a sense of foreboding trailing down his spine, though that could have been his blood, since had fairly certain Savage had carved some other symbol in his back while he’d been out. He could only imagine what it was. All of the nightmares came flooding back to him, all of Ray’s terrifying accounts, all of Mick’s grunts and groans when Gideon had fixed him up in the MedBay after the escape from the gulag.

Jax screamed.

He screamed for Ray and Stein, Len and Mick, Kendra and Sara, Rip and Carter. He screamed so loudly, even though his throat was raw and painful from his last bout of screaming. He screamed for them to save him. He screamed, wanting to know where they were. He screamed, demanding why they hadn’t saved him, asking why they’d left him in the hands of this monster.

Then he cried.

The team didn’t know where he was. They had no idea. They probably didn’t even know he was missing, or maybe they’d thought he was out again, had gone exploring or was hanging around with Seamus. They didn’t know.

They weren’t coming to save him.

He continued to weep.

He’d never even managed to tell his mother what had happened to him, what he’d become, where he was going, that he’d gone to save the world from the psychopath that was about to kill him. If he died now, she wouldn’t know what had happened to him. He’d simply disappear. And his mother would die, never knowing, having lost both her husband and her son. She’d made Jax promise to always come home to her, just like she’d made his father promise, and now, just like him, Jax was going to break that promise.

“What are your friends looking for, Mr Jackson? Tell me, and I’ll consider letting you go. Minus a few limbs for the trouble you’ve caused me,” Savage murmured softly, in a persuasive tone. “Why are you all here?”

“We’re here…” Jax rasped. The crying and screaming had damaged his vocal cords even more than they already had been before. “We’re…here…to stop…you.”

Savage’s face twisted into a nasty snarl, and he slammed the electrode pads over the cuts on Jax’s ribs, attaching the wires to the car battery, and then placing his hand on the lever that would trigger the battery and electrocute Jax.

“I was hoping that you would finally see that you have been defeated, Mr Jackson, that you cannot win. Obviously, I will have to convince you of this.”

Savage was about to move the lever, when an explosion ripped through the warehouse. Jax saw the flames from the blast through the doorway, and a heard the creaking and screeching of metal collapsing in on itself. He could even hear delighted cheers and whooping.

They’d found him.

Jax heard Mick’s roar of delight, and could just about make out the sounds of both the heat gun and the cold gun. Savage’s face curled up in loathing and fury, and he stormed towards the source of the commotion, leaving Jax alone in the room. That was when he heard a door behind him scrape open, the sound of something slicing through the air, and a muffled grunt.

Ray approached Jax, his face scrunching up in rage and horror as he catalogued Jax’s injuries, and he carefully removed the electrode pads from his ribs, before motioning for the chains to be loosened so that Jax could be lowered.

He screamed when a jolt of agonising pain shot up his leg, the result of putting weight on his shattered knee. Ray caught him as he collapsed forwards into his arms. He hoisted the boy up into his arms, wary of Jax’s ruined body, trying not to cause the boy any more pain.

Jax could see Kendra and Stein standing next to the door, and as soon as she saw him, her eyes glowed an intense red, and her wings flared out from her back as she roared furiously, wielding her mace and heading towards the warehouse and Savage, paying no heed to Ray’s protestations or Stein’s urgings that they needed to return to the Waverider.

“Go!” Kendra shouted as she headed towards the battle.

Ray spared her one last look before fleeing the warehouse with Stein and a nearly unconscious Jax. As black began to gather at the edge of his vision, Jax could make out the shape of the Waverider on top of one the warehouses.

He passed out, welcoming the blissful darkness.

 

* * *

 

Kendra watched as Rip shot Savage in the head with his gun, and almost felt like killing the man for taking her kill from her. The man had hurt Jax, and he was going to pay for it. She was going to destroy him, the way he’d destroyed Carter and herself for 4000 years. They way he’d been destroying Jax. She was going to make it hurt. But Rip had taken that way from her.

One of Savage’s goons made the mistake of lunging towards hawk goddess, and she smashed his head in with her spiked mace in a single blow, bone and blood crunching and squelching beneath her weapon. She didn’t even both to spare him a glance as she advanced towards the rest of the men.

She distantly heard Carter calling her name, Kendra, not Chay-Ara, telling her to stop, but it was like hearing someone on the other side of glass. She was too far gone in that moment to even understand what he meant, as she brought the mace down on yet another thug’s head, splitting it open in one clean stroke, blood and tissue pooling around his corpse.

A moment later, she felt strong arms encircle her, wings beating, lifting her off the ground. She growled, trying to swipe at her soulmate, trying to get him to release her, but his grip was firm, and he hauled her outside the warehouse. When she showed no signs of rushing back into the melee, he released her.

“Kendra. Kendra, my love. Chay-Ara,” he held her face in his hands. She stared into his eyes, calming herself, trying to quell the wrath raging inside her. “He’s gone for now, and we’re all safe.”

“I’d revise that last statement, lover boy,” Snart’s annoying drawl cut over Carter’s voice, and drew the attention of the two soulmates.

Apparently, the explosion and subsequent fire had attracted the attention of Marconi’s men, and a large swarm of men with guns headed towards them, bullets already flying in their direction. The rest of the group sprinted towards the ship, Rip ushering everyone in as the doors closed, and rushed towards the bridge, yelling commands at Gideon.

The team hurried towards the bridge to strap in for the time jump, meeting up with Stein and Ray on the way there. Ray had shed the suit, and was covered in Jax’s blood, a sight which caused all of the Legends blood to run cold.

“Gideon’s stabilised him,” Ray assured them as they strapped in, bracing for the time jump. “He’s going to be ok.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, Jax. How are you?” Kendra’s soothing voice was the first thing Jax heard when he regained consciousness. “Here, I’ll help you to sit up. Carter,” she said as she began rearranging his pillows, fluffing them up, while Carter gently supported Jax.

Once he was sat comfortably upright, he could see that the entire team, including Rip, was gathered in the MedBay, which made it a rather awkward squeeze. Len and Ray were perched on the other bed while Mick stood next to it, Kendra and Carter were on either side of the bed, Stein was sat on a chair at the end of the bed, and both Rip and Sara were slouched against the wall. Jax noticed that Ray and Len’s hands were tangled together, and when they noticed his gaze, they sprang apart, with the tips of Ray’s ears turning slightly red, and Len’s expression returning to his trademark ‘devil-may-care’.

Jax tried to open his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a wheezy gasp. Kendra picked up the glass of water on the table next to the bed, placed it against his lips, and tilted it slowly, massaging Jax’s throat softly to help him swallow.

“You may wish to refrain from speaking for a while, Mr Jackson. Your throat is swollen and there is significant damage to your vocal cords. I have prescribed strong painkillers and a mild sedative to help with any discomfort.”

“Don’t need another roofie,” he rasped, attempting to grin slightly, though it tugged at the stitches in his bottom lip where he’d bitten clean through it. The comment drew slightly anxious laughter from most of the team, and an amused smirk from Rip, and even a small smile from Stein. Kendra smoothed hand over his brow from where it had crinkled slightly in pain.

Even though he’d only been awake for a minutes, Jax’s eyelids were already beginning to droop, tiredness crashing over him in waves. Seeing this, Kendra shooed everyone from the room, though they each managed to tell Jax to get better soon and rest. Kendra helped him have one last sip of water and dropped a kiss on his forehead before following Carter out of the room.

Stein was the last to leave, and as Jax began to drift off, he heard the older man say, “I’m very glad you’re ok.”

Jax fell asleep with a smile on his face.

 

* * *

 

The team congregated outside the MedBay, not quite knowing what to do with themselves while their youngest member was lying in the room, battered and bruised.

“Miss Lance, where did you put the orb?” Rip asked as he headed back towards the bridge.

“It’s in your study,” she replied as she headed towards the training room, having decided that beating the crap out of some punching bags would be therapeutic. She looked back at Kendra in askance, who nodded, trailing after the assassin.

Stein announced that he was going to retire to his room, and then visit Jefferson later on, perhaps read to him. This drew a slight chuckle from Len, who told him that any of Stein’s war books would help Jax drop right off.

“Thank you, Mr Snart,” Stein replied huffily as he headed towards his room.

This left the other four men standing awkwardly outside the room.

“Well,” Ray started, but he was cut off.

“What in the fresh hell is this place?” A voice with a very pronounced accent exclaimed, and moments later, a young man walked around the corner. “Where the hell is Jax?”

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Seamus O’Reilly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhh, so that happened. I'm very, very sorry. And very ashamed for what happened.  
> Though I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about Seamus. Well, ta da.  
> And I know I promised it last time, but the next chapter will be happy and funny, you'll see (hopefully).


	9. The Roaring Twenties (Part 4): Goodbyes Are The Hardest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seamus is found aboard the Waverider, goodbyes are always hardest to say to those that you love, and this is no exception for Jax. Perhaps we should abstain from inter-era romances. It will definitely save everyone from this terrible conflict and heartache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I write sad things? Why do I upset myself? Why is Rip so strict about not changing the timeline or bringing visitors on board the Waverider? I blame sad music and films for this, as well as my sleep deprived brain, which usually ends up with me writing depressing, sad chapters (seriously, my fic Losing My Religion is written while I'm listening to this music).

_“Who the hell are you?!”_

_“Seamus O’Reilly.”_

 

* * *

 

“Captain, it would seem that there is an unidentified intruder in the storage bay,” Gideon’s voice chimed overhead, and the aforementioned captain groaned in response. _Really, was it too much to ask for just one day, heck one_ thing, _to go right on the blasted ship with its damned ridiculous crew?!_

Rip brushed a hand over his face, dragging his skin downwards as he did so, and a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sara’s laughed in his head, ‘ _Careful Rip. You’ll get wrinkles doing that.’_ This, of course, caused him to repeat the action with an exasperated sigh.

“Yes, Gideon. Of course there is,” he muttered bitterly. “And who, pray tell, is on my ship now?”

“It seems, Captain, that the man is Seamus O’Reilly. It appears he entered the ship through the rear hatch before our take-off from 1925. He is currently located outside of the MedBay, and is currently engaged in an argument with Mr Snart, Mr Rory, Mr Hall and Dr Palmer,” Gideon informed him in a tone that sounded far too upbeat for the news she was delivering. Rip would have to look into giving AI’s a range to their voice somehow. The idea of Gideon cheerfully delivering news that half of his crew had killed a stranger from the past _on his ship_ did not exactly instil a sense of excitement in him.

He exhaled loudly, and admitted to himself that his “inner Sara voice” (as he had privately dubbed it, something none of the team would ever find out about) had been right. At the rate their current mission was going, Rip was going to look like an old man before they’d finished.

“Who exactly _is_ Seamus O’Reilly, Gideon? And why is he on my ship?”

“Here is his file, Captain,” Gideon announced as a very long and detailed hologram of a file appeared on the main console. Rip sighed once again when he realised he was looking at a very old police file. “He appears to have boarded the ship to check on Mr Jackson’s condition, Captain. Seamus O’Reilly, associated with the O’Reilly family and the Irish Mob. Born October 18th, 1902 in Brooklyn, New York City,” Gideon informed him, and honestly, Rip really was going to have to add an emotional range to the AI’s voice. “At the time of his disappearance, he had multiple open arrest warrants. He is wanted in connection with bribing police officials, bribing elected politicians and judges, suspected bootlegger, suspected of running a speakeasy, robbery, vehicle theft, armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, arson, and attempted murder. He is also suspected of being involved in the murder of a police official.”

“Wonderful,” Rip muttered sarcastically. “It’s nice to know Jefferson can make such charming friends.

“Mr O’Reilly’s death was recorded as being three days after the time he entered the ship, Captain, during an apparent shoot out with the Italian Mafia, an attack orchestrated by Anthony Marconi. It was suspected by Anthony Marconi that O’Reilly and his associates had stolen a delivery of bootleg liquor, Captain, and he retaliated.”

“Gideon, please inform the small group gathered outside the MedBay that I wish to talk to this Mr O’Reilly. Oh, and also inform them that they are allowed to use force, if necessary, to get Mr O’Reilly to agree,” he tacked on with a small smirk. Rory would definitely be up for a little violence if he was still coming down from the adrenaline rush from the fight earlier on.

 

* * *

 

It took the four men approximately 3 minutes, and a lot of shoving and punching, to drag Jax’s new criminal _acquaintance_ to the bridge, where Rip was waiting for them, leaning against the doorway into his study. He gave the man – boy, really – a long, considering look, sizing him up, studying him, trying to work out whether or not he was a potential threat at that moment in time. He could see Snart and Rory doing the same thing out of the corner of his eye.

Finally, after a few minutes, Rip broke the tense silence that had settled over the room. “Mr O’Reilly. Would you care to tell me what you’re doing on my ship?” Rip levelled his most intimidating glare at the boy in front of him, though obviously, by the way the boy scoffed, he wasn’t exactly intimidated by the Captain. Rory, on the other hand…

“You better answer him,” the arsonist growled, taking a threatening step forwards. Rip was sure the only thing that stopped him from slugging the stranger was his partner’s hand on his arm. Seamus’ eyes widened slightly, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. He turned back to look at Rip, threading his fingers round his black suspenders, and shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“Well, ya obviously know who I am. I’m here ‘cause of Jax. Met him a few days back, ya see, after he helped me out of a…nasty situation. I saw you lot gettin’ chased by Marconi’s guys, and Jax was hurt, and I guess – well – I guess I wanted to make sure everything was Jake, that he wasn’t hurt too bad.” Seamus looked down, studying the floor intently.

Rip opened his mouth to say something, at which point, Sara and Kendra walked onto the bridge, eager to see what all the fuss and Gideon’s announcement earlier was about. Kendra almost walked into Sara when she came to a sudden halt, eyes widening as her mouth dropped open.

Rip was about to ask what the matter was with her, when she suddenly blurted out, “You’re the gangster-guy Jax kissed back in the 20s!” Her slightly stunned expression morphed into what Rip could only describe as ‘the cat that got the cream’. He was very worried about how pleased Sara looked, and that was the reason he gave for why it took him a few moments to process Sara’s words.

Silence reigned again for a few moments, and Rip had the unsettling thought that this was the calm before the storm, before the bridge erupted into absolute pandemonium.

“He’s from the 20s?!”

“He kissed Jax?”

“Jax kissed _him_?”

“He’s a _gangster_?”

“Why is he here?”

“Whoa, wait, back up. Whatdya mean, _back_ in the 20s?”

This last comment came from Seamus, who was looking at the group as though they were all raving mad. To be fair, to anyone who didn’t know about meta-humans and time-travel, they probably were mad.

“This is going to be fun to explain,” Rip heard Ray mumble, and Rip had to agree, looking at the scene before. Both Snart and Rory were eyeing the boy critically, with a mixture of distrust and irritation, as well as some grudging respect when Snart caught sight of the police file still displayed on the console. Rip wasn’t entirely sure if the criminal duo were going to shoot Seamus, or congratulate him on his rap sheet. Perhaps both. The temperature twins loved to surprise.

Kendra, on the other hand, looked absolutely murderous when she heard the word ‘gangster’, and Rip was fairly sure her protective instincts were coming out to play. He was fairly sure he could see Sara and the Rogues placing bets on how long it would take Kendra to ‘hawk-out’ and rip his face off once she saw his rap sheet. Rip was also fairly sure he saw Sara mouth the words ‘Mama Bird’ to Ray, which Carter obviously saw as he turned to glare at the assassin. Not, of course, that Sara was wrong.

Rip was about to open his mouth when he was interrupted, yet again, when Stein ambled in.

“What have I missed?”

 

* * *

 

“Why is it that I only know people who are mad?” Jax grumbled when he saw Seamus standing by the door to the MedBay, a sheepish expression on his face, and Kendra glaring at him as though she was hoping he’d disintegrate on the spot.

“Someone hasn’t had their pain meds yet,” Sara teased as she breezed into the room, nudging Seamus and Kendra out of the way and going straight to Jax’s bed, placing herself at the bottom and crossing her legs. “Thought you’d be pleased to see your boyfriend,” she said with a devious smirk, and began sucking on a strawberry lollipop which she seemed to produce out of thin air.

“Hilarious,” Jax replied, deadpan, fixing the assassin with a withering look as she continued to smirk, looking much too pleased with herself. Jax had a fleeting thought about pushing her off the bed, but even in his half-drugged state, he knew that probably wouldn’t end well, especially with her super-assassin reflexes.

He turned his attention back to the two figures hovering in the doorway, and beckoned for them both to enter. Seamus awkwardly shuffled in a placed himself on the side of the bed both closest to the door and as far away from Kendra as possible. Jax made a mental note to figure out why Kendra, who was usually so kind to people, seemed to loathe Seamus. Maybe he’d pissed her off.

“Hey, Seamus,” Jax greeted the man with a smile, which was warmly returned, and some of the tension is his posture seemed to ease. “What’re you doin’ here?” Jax was aware that his words were slurred slightly, the drugs slowing his speech, making his head feel heavy and as though it was clogged up with cotton wool.

“Well, I couldn’t just let ya leave without sayin’ goodbye,” he teased gently, a smile tugging at the edge of lips.

“Aww, that’s cute,” Sara cooed, making kissy faces at the pair, which caused Jax to roll his eyes at her antics.

“Don’t you guys have somewhere to be? Like…not here? This ain’t a private show, Sara,” he quipped, and then shifted his legs slightly to the side, causing Sara to abruptly tumble off the edge of the bed onto the floor, dragging half the blankets with her.

“That’s not so cute,” she grunted from where she was sprawled on the floor, attempting to heave herself upright while still sucking on her damned lollipop, until Kendra took pity on her and offered her a hand up. “I guess we’ll leave you two lovebirds to it, then,” she said, throwing a wink in Jax’s direction as she sauntered back out of the MedBay, dragging a rather reluctant Kendra with her.

“…you sure it’s…to leave him with a convicted…Sara…” Jax caught snatches of Kendra’s hushed tones as the pair walked out of the MedBay, and was immediately curious as to what exactly it was that Kendra had found out about Seamus that would make her so wary.

Jax’s attention snapped back to Seamus when the other man threw his blankets back onto the bed and perched on the edge, eyes roving over Jax’s body as he assessed the damage. “Marconi’s guys certainly did a number on you, didn’t they?” Seamus commented, reaching out to trace a line of stitches running down the side of Jax’s cheek and across his lips. The intimacy of the action made Jax flush slightly.

Seamus cupped Jax’s face gently and leaned in to press a small, tender kiss to Jax’s lips, carefully avoiding the cuts and split skin. As he leaned back, he swiped a thumb softly across Jax’s cheek and across his lower lip.

“So…you were gonna run off without saying goodbye, huh? That anyway to treat a fella?” Seamus joked as he interlaced his fingers with Jax’s and squeezed.

Jax let his head drop back onto the pillow with a long groan. “Sorry. Things kinda got a bit…rushed, when we found out where Savage’s base was. Rip got us to charge in without a plan, as usual. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. ‘M sorry.”

“Nah, it’s not your fault. No need ta keep apologizin’. Least we got a chance to say goodbye before you fly off to wherever…whenever…man that’s confusin’,” Seamus stumbled over the words as he tried to figure out the logistics of time travel in his head. Jax had to admit that he was doing much better than Jax had at first, especially considering the lack of technology in the 20s. The rogues had placed bets on whether or not Ray would have an aneurysm when they arrived in the ‘technological dark ages’, considering the amount of complaining he’d done after being rescued from the 50s.

“So, you’re not here to say goodbye at all, you came to check out the spaceship,” Jax teased the other man lightly, and Seamus ducked his head slightly before looking back at Jax.

“Course I’m here to say goodbye.”

“And check out the futuristic spaceship?”

“And check out the futuristic spaceship,” Seamus replied with a laugh and a cheeky grin lighting up his face, causing Jax to laugh along with him. Jax thought he looked so much younger with that grin, less worn down by the hardships of his life and the immoral nature of his work. He wished Seamus would always grin like that.

“So,” Seamus began once their laughter had subsided, “you gonna tell me about this family of yours? Can’t say I got the friendliest of welcomes. Wasn’t the most unfriendly either, ‘course. I’ve had worse.”

“Of course you have,” Jax chuckled. “They’re the worst, and they’re the best. Rip, he’s the captain, though you wouldn’t know it cause no one ever listens to him, not even Ray. Sara’s an assassin, and she can be alright, but she’s the worst when she hangs around with Len and Mick – they’re criminals, I think you’d get on with them, and…”

 

* * *

 

Jax talked with Seamus the entire time that Gideon was fixing him, the hours slipping away as they talked about anything and everything – Jax’s family back home and his new family on the ship, his passion for football, the mission the team were on, and Seamus talked about his life of crime and his own family (a sister living in Iowa with her husband), how he got involved with the mob, funny stories about mischief they’d both gotten up to as kids, though Seamus’ were infinitely more dangerous than Jax’s, how he and the entire bar had been tricked into trying Caoimhe’s first batch of ‘Bathtub Gin’ (which had subsequently sent most of them to the hospital for alcohol poisoning), and everything else they could think of.

A knock at the door alerted them to Ray’s presence, and they both looked up at him from the bed, Seamus having shuffled and shoved his way onto the narrow platform next to Jax.

“Jax, Rip says that it’s time to return Seamus to his timeline. We’ve got a new lead on Savage, and we’ve got to leave soon,” he informed them, a sad little smile gracing his lips, and Jax was suddenly curious as to what could upset bright and bubbly Ray.

“Oh, ok,” Jax mumbled sadly as he heaved himself off the bed with Seamus’ help. It felt too soon, to be letting go and saying goodbye to this wonderful person that he’d met. They hadn’t had enough time, it was too soon, he wanted more time, he wanted to stay with Seamus and get to know him better, he –

He wanted to be selfish.

Just for once, Jax wanted to be selfish and have what he wanted. He didn’t want to leave Seamus, or the 20s. He wanted to stay with this man, his friend who could have perhaps been something more to him, had they been given the time. And, as seemed to have become normal for them, the team, time was not with them, not on their side. Once again, time was the enemy, and it didn’t want Jax and Seamus to get to know each other. He felt like punching something.

“Hey,” Seamus whispered when he noticed Jax’s troubled expression and the fire simmering in his eyes as he helped the younger man hobble towards hangar door. “We’ll see each other again one day, all right? I mean, you’ve got this thing, so you can always come back and visit me, ok.” The pair paused in the hallway and Seamus cupped Jax’s face, backing him up against the wall before pressing his lips gently against Jax’s.

The pair walked off the ship hand in hand and out into the bright light shining on the streets of New York. Jax held up his hand to the rest of the team members waiting on the ship, signalling that he wanted a few more minutes to say goodbye.

They walked a bit further along the street, and Jax recognised it as the place where they’d first met, and chuckled slightly, catching Seamus’ attention who realised the first thing a few moments later. “What a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences anymore,” Seamus said with a quirk of his lips, and Jax fought the urge to kiss him in the middle of street, instead going with Seamus when he guided them into the alley.

“You know, you could always come with us,” Jax suggested, looking down at the sidewalk and scuffing his shoe across the asphalt before looking back at Seamus’ freckled face, memorising it. “Or I could stay here. With you. If that was ok with you,” he added on, biting his lower lip as he looked at the other man, a hopeful expression covering his own face.

“Wouldn’t that, I don’t know, mess up the timeline, or whatever that crazy English guy is always on about?” Seamus questioned with a small laugh. He shook his head quickly, not giving Jax any time to answer. “I’ve got my life here, and you’ve got your life out there, or in the future, or whatever the heck it all is.” They both chuckled as he broke off again.

“I don’t know. It’s all too confusing for me. But one thing I do know is that you’re doing something good. You’re gonna save the world, Jax. But you gotta get back on that ship to do it. I like you, hell, maybe I even love you, and maybe we’d have a future under different circumstances. I’ll always remember you.”

Seamus reached out and placed a hand on Jax’s face, thumb rubbing gentle circles into his cheek, swiping away a couple of stray drops of moisture that carved tracks down his face, and Jax leant into the touch.

They both leaned in at the same time, lips crashing together, no longer gentle and chaste, and they each poured all of their emotion, their feelings, passion and rage and frustration at their situation, into the kiss, trying to let the other know just how much they wanted to stay, how their feelings were reciprocated.

Jax ran his fingers through Seamus’ hair, the sunlight causing it to glow like a dying fire, and one of Seamus’ hands cupped the back of Jax’s head while the other slipped to his lower back, pulling him as close as possible.

Seamus withdrew first, leaning his forehead against Jax’s, both panting from lack of air, still close enough that Jax could feel the other man’s breath ghosting against his lips. “Be safe, and remember me,” he whispered, reminiscent of a lover and an illicit affair. He pressed a final, fervent kiss against Jax’s lips before darting out of the alley, leaving Jax standing there, still out of breath, and as conflicted as he’d ever been.

He wanted to go after Seamus, convince him that there was a way they could make it work, that they could convince Rip to let him join the team. But he knew, rationally, that Rip would never agree to it, no matter how much he pleaded with the man; that it wouldn’t be practical to have Seamus there; that it would be selfish since Seamus had a life here, in the 20s; that it was just too dangerous for Seamus to join them in the fight against Savage.

He spared one last glance in the direction Seamus had disappeared off to, and spied him standing on the opposite corner of the street, giving him a final wave and smile, before trudging back off towards the Waverider.

 

* * *

 

It was several hours later, once he’d returned to the ship, shrugging off the concerned glances of the rest of his teammates, and Ray’s worried pestering about how he was feeling, that was Jax gave into the temptation he’d been resisting ever since he’d first met Seamus.

“Hey, Gideon, can you find stuff on Seamus O’Reilly?” He asked the A.I. in a weary voice, hoping that she’d actually listen to him for once.

“Of course Mr Jackson. There have been some changes since he first boarded the ship and was then returned to the timeline,” she informed him, which piqued his interest.

“What changes, Gideon?”

“Well, originally, Seamus O’Reilly’s date of death was recorded as being three days after your attack on Vandal Savage’s warehouse, Mr Jackson.”

Jax’s breathing stuttered for a minute, and his heart began to race at the thought that he’d just delivered Seamus straight to his death. “And now?” He choked out.

“Seamus O’Reilly. Born: 16th July 1902. Died: 18th October 1990, aged 88. Captain Hunter made sure that he was dropped off two days after the original date of his death, and attempted to ensure that the events leading up to his death did not occur so long as they did not disrupt the timeline,” Gideon informed him in an almost cheerful, pleased tone, and Jax was so damned pleased himself that he almost forgot the question that he’d been meaning to ask.

“Did he ever marry anyone, Gideon?”

“No, Mr Jackson. Seamus O’Reilly was involved in several equal rights and LGBT rights protests over the years, as well as campaigning for racial equality. He was also openly gay and involved in the first Pride march in New York City.”

At this information, Jax grinned. “Thank you, Gideon.”

“You’re welcome, Mr Jackson.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if you found this chapter sad. Like the show, it seems that this fic started off happy and funny and it's moved to depressingly sad in no time. However, I should hopefully be back to happy and funny soon (ha! Like I promised in the last chapter. But hey, at least I didn't kill Seamus as originally planned. I'm sorry, I'm a terrible person).


	10. This is why we can't have nice things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this, the final chapter of this (rather long-winded) tale, a great mystery is revealed: The reason why the Legends can't have nice things...like decent breakfast cereals. 
> 
> Also known as, the chapter where Mick managed to set a watermelon on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have no idea if it's actually possible to set a watermelon on fire. There's probably a YouTube video somewhere, but my search history is weird enough already (e.g. my search for "what noise does a platypus make"). Please don't try this at home to see if you can set a watermelon on fire, your parents probably won't be happy if you set fire to your house in the attempt.

“Remind me why I thought this was a good idea,” Rip sighed, burying his face in his hands.

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Carter said from beside Rip, patting his shoulder in sympathy. He gave him a half smile as Rip looked up and glared at the hawk God.

“Why is it that every other group of people can manage to do this every week, without incident, yet the moment this group steps off the spaceship, they manage to do irreparable damage to the surrounding area, never mind the damage they usually do to the timeline!” Rip was almost hysterical at this point.

“Perhaps in the future we should come up a system or a rota, to avoid…this,” Carter suggested, gesturing to the scene in front of the two men.

Carter winced as he saw a watermelon roll past them, orange flames flickering brightly, turning the once green skin to a grey colour that reminded him of charcoal.

 

* * *

 

_2 hours earlier_

“Hey, Kendra, where’s the cereal?” Jax yelled, his top half shoved into the cupboard as he rooted around for the box of Frosties that was usually stocked.

“I don’t know Jax. Have you checked the other cupboards?” She asked, wandering over to the fridge. “Ray, did you leave the milk out again?”

“Nope,” he replied, tinkering with some piece of technology.

“I thought Rip told you he didn’t like you using the kitchen table as a workshop extension,” Sara commented as she sauntered into the kitchen, yanking open a cupboard door. “Where are my breakfast bars? Mick, did you steal my breakfast bars again?”

“No.”

“Len?”

“Do you really think I’d touch your disgusting cereal bars?” The criminal in question sneered in response, pulling a face at the thought of going near Sara’s extra-healthy (and disgusting) breakfast choice, a choice suggested by their female winged avenger.

“Coulda just said no,” she muttered continuing to root around in the cupboard. “Hey, Jax, do you see my cereal bars in there?”

“Nope. Can’t find my Frosties either.”

“Maybe it’s a sign that you should start eating healthily,” Sara suggested with a shit-eating grin.

“Hilarious,” Jax replied in a deadpan voice, giving up his search and swinging the cupboard door shut in frustration. “We have no food.”

“We have plenty of food, Jefferson. If you’d perhaps consider expanding your dietary choices…” Stein trailed off as he entered the kitchen and began making his coffee. However, he hit a slight snag when he realised that there was no coffee. At all.

“Where on earth is the coffee?!” Stein exploded, startling everyone in the kitchen, and causing Ray to drop the piece of tech he’d been working. Even Sara and the Rogues seemed slightly stunned.

“We need to go shopping,” Kendra announced suddenly, and everyone else in the room groaned. It wasn’t that they all thought shopping was boring (though they definitely did). It was more the fact that they all recognised that group outings (and that was what it would have to be, after the Great Shopping Disaster of 1893, when Rip forgot to take the shopping list), were not exactly the best idea.

Still, they could learn from past mistakes, right?

 

* * *

 

_1 hour later_

“I am perfectly aware that you’re all adults, but there seems to be a certain pattern when we leave the ship for day trips,” Rip stated as the ship landed. “You either end up disrupting the timeline and destroying the future,” his gaze settled on Ray, “or setting fire to something,” a pointed look directed towards Mick, “or stealing something,” now at Leonard, “or attacking them,” he looked at Kendra, Sara and Carter, “or getting captured and hurt.”

“Hey, man. We’re just going grocery shopping. I’d say that’s pretty safe thing to be doing. It’s not like we’re taking on bad guys or anything,” Jax rolled his eyes at Rip’s dramatics. Honestly, sometimes the guy blew things way out of proportion.

“Yeah, grocery shopping, what could go wrong?” Ray said cheerfully, while everyone around him sighed and groaned.

“Dammit, Raymond, now you’ve jinxed.”

“Oops?”

“To avoid any unpleasant outcomes, I suggest that we stay in groups, so that nothing is set on fire, no one is hit, and we actually leave a building standing in a time period for once,” Rip suggested, taking in the team’s expressions, ranging from slight disbelief to _‘are you fucking kidding me right now, we’re adults’._ “Carter, if you’d be so kind as to accompany Jefferson, Miss Saunders, Mr Snart and Mr Rory, please. Professor Stein, Dr Palmer, Miss Lance and I will be together,” Rip held up his hand to stop any complaints. “Please try not to blow anything up.”

“For the record, if these two blow anything up, I’m not responsible,” Carter said, gesturing towards the two rogues, both of whom took menacing steps towards the other man.

“Noted. We’ll rendezvous at the tills in 45 minutes.”

The group headed towards the supermarket before heading off in different directions. Carter grabbed Jax’s shoulder and steered him towards the food aisles when he became distracted by the films aisle.

“Well, where to first?” Len drawled.

“Can’t we just split up? I mean, this is really stupid, man,” Jax complained. At least he wasn’t the only one being treated like a kid this time, but it really was ridiculous that Rip was treating them like five-year-olds who constantly caused trouble. Actually, thinking about…

“I think Rip’s right. I mean, just because we’re shopping, that doesn’t mean something bad won’t happen. I mean, weirder things have happened, right?” Kendra looked to her companions, and, seeing no disagreement with what she’d said, headed towards the health foods aisle.

“Come on, guys, you have to think this is stupid,” Jax tried to appeal to the two criminals, whom he knew must be slightly annoyed with the situation, but when he turned to them, he found that they were no longer there.

“Dammit,” Carter cursed when he saw that Snart and Rory were missing. “Come on, kid. We better make sure Kendra isn’t buying too much healthy stuff for us.” Carter steered Jax towards the aisle that Kendra had disappeared down.

“Why do guys all call me ‘kid’?” Jax asked, irritated but also curious.

“Jefferson, I’m 4000 years old. You’re 20. To me, you’re practically a child. And Kendra feels the same way. I can’t say definitely why those two rogues call you kid, but I’m guessing it’s because of the age difference. You’re the youngest on the team, and you didn’t want to be here. We all see you as a kid,” Carter explained as they trailed behind Kendra, who was busy dumping all kinds of health food and fancy coffee shit into the trolley.

“Ok. I was just curious, I guess. I mean, it didn’t make much sense before.”

Carter clapped Jax on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring half-smile. Jax returned the smile, and moved to grab a box of Frosties from the shelf, dumping it in the trolley. He was dismayed when Kendra decided to pick up the box and look at the sugar content.

“Jax, this is really unhealthy,” she scolded him, moving to put the box of cereal back.

“Oh come on, Kendra. It’s not that bad. It probably has less sugar than those syrups you put in your coffee,” Jax retorted, reaching for another box of the cereal of the shelf.

“He has a point, love,” Carter piped up, throwing a packet of jerky into the trolley, wilting slightly under the force of Kendra’s glare before putting the jerky back on the shelf.

“You,” she said, pointing at Carter. “Don’t encourage him. And Jax, you can have the cereal, so long as you promise to eat something healthy as well. And no, Snart’s pancakes don’t count as healthy,” she said before setting off down yet another aisle.

“Wow. Has Kendra always been like that? In her past lives, I mean,” Jax questioned.

“Bossy, mothering, overly health-conscious? Yes,” Carter replied, before once again following his soulmate, assuming, incorrectly, that Jax would follow him. Instead, when he turned back, he saw that the boy had disappeared.

“Oh, fuck.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, man. Don’t tell me you’re down to shoplifting now. You that desperate to steal something?” Jax ribbed, as he spotted the two rogues perusing the chocolate and crisps aisle. Mick was loading a basket with chilli crisps, salsa dip and hot pockets, while Jax assumed that the ice cream and cookie crumble chocolate bars were down to Len.

“Did you get tired of the lovebirds already?”

“That’s funny, Snart. Especially seeing as you left me with them,” Jax said while chucking a bottle of chocolate sauce into the basket. “Kendra’s on this freaky health drive, and she won’t let me have Frosties and pancakes for breakfast.” Jax was aware that he sounded as though he were sulking, but couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed.

“Hey, kid, you want these?” Mick grunted, holding up a bag of gold chocolate coins, ready to toss them over.

“Yeah, thanks Mick.” Jax said as he caught the bag, turning around and dropping them into the trolley. He perused the shelf for a couple more minutes before turning back to the pair of criminals.

Who were nowhere in sight.

_Dammit._

“Oh man, this ain’t gonna be good,” he sighed, before deciding that it’d probably be best if he just finished shopping before whatever inevitable destruction occurred. He seriously needed his Frosties for breakfast.

 

* * *

 

The watermelon rolled past Jax’s feet, and he stepped back to avoid the flames. He might be fireproof as Firestorm, but his sneakers certainly weren’t. He’d discovered that little fact after Mick had gotten slightly…overzealous, with trying to set his enemies on fire, and Jax had just happened to be standing a bit too close to one of them. He’d lost his favourite pair of sneakers and his only non-holey jeans that day, and Mick hadn’t even looked ashamed, just shrugged and offered to buy him a new pair.

He glanced over to where Rip was currently chewing out both Mick and Len. In the middle of the parking lot. Where everyone could see. Including the poor normal people who had been trying to do their Sunday shopping. Jax was kind of surprised that no one had called the cops yet. Or the local insane asylum, since Rip was yelling stuff like, “You could have messed up the timeline,” and “you can’t just go around robbing supermarkets in random eras.”

Of course, it was at that moment that Jax heard the sirens in the distance.

“I hate to interrupt,” Sara piped up from where she was perched on the hood of some poor customer’s car, “but we might want to leave now.” She gestured in the direction of the approaching sirens, which were a lot closer than they had been a moment ago.

The three men stopped arguing for a moment, glancing around as if they’d only just remembered where (and when) they were.

“Yes, well, perhaps we should continue this back on the ship,” Rip announced, setting off the direction of the Waverider, gesturing for the others to follow him, as though he thought they might want to stick around and try to explain why half of the supermarket was frozen like Santa’s grotto, and the other half was on fire, looking like something from Dante’s _Inferno_.

The first police car pulled into the parking lot, its lights flashing brightly and siren still shrieking, and the two officers jumped out of the car, pulling out their guns, and yelling, “POLICE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”

The Legends all made a break for it, sprinting towards the Waverider as fast as they could. Even Professor Stein was managing to keep up with the rest of them. Jax thought that they were going to make it. And then his knee popped out.

Jax cried out, and he tried to keep running, he really did, but unlike in the prison in Russia, he didn’t have the adrenaline, nor was he running across a flat surface. He stumbled forwards, and face-planted on the ground, asphalt scraping and tearing at his face, dirt embedding itself in the open cuts and scrapes that he now had on his face. He could feel a slight trickle of blood down the side of his face.

“Jax!” He heard Kendra’s worried yell just before he was hauled off the ground by two sets of arms.

At first he thought that the two cops had caught up with him, and struggled slightly, trying to free himself from the firm hold.

“Relax, kid, it’s just us,” he heard Snart drawl as he was hauled in the direction of the Waverider. He looked up and saw Rory grinning maniacally as he used the heat gun in his free hand to send a wave of fire towards the police officers still pursuing them. The pair yelled in surprise and fell backwards, causing Mick’s grin to grow even wider as he laughed.

 

* * *

 

“Gideon! Set a course for the temporal zone!” Rip yelled as Jax, Len and Mick tumbled onto the ship, the door closing behind just as the officers rounded the corner. “And keep the damned cloaking up this time!”

“You alright, kid?” Mick asked as Jax dropped onto a crate. All of the Legends were still in the hangar, in varying states of exhaustion. Stein was collapsed on another stack of crates near the door, looking thoroughly exhausted. Jax had to give it to him, Grey had done a lot better than he had, especially for his age. He wasn’t going to tell him that though.

“Kid?” Len prompted when Jax didn’t answer Mick after a while.

Jax was still panting hard, partly from the running, and partly from the pain in his leg. Jax nodded, despite the fact that he felt anything _but_ fine.

“You should go to the MedBay, Jax,” Ray wheezed, breathing laboured, and Jax noticed that he was leaning into Len, who had a hand placed on the scientist’s arm. Of course, as soon as Len noticed his gaze, he tucked his hand discreetly into one of his many pockets and gave him a wry smile, knowing that Jax was smart enough to connect the dots.

“I’ll go in a minute, when I can breathe again,” he puffed, leaning back against the wall and letting his eyes close for a moment.

He was _never_ going shopping again. It was literally hazardous to his health. He’d put up with Kendra’s awful ‘nourishing’ smoothies and kale bars if it meant he could avoid death while buying cereal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out from underneath the rock I've been hiding under for the last year*   
> Hi again. Sorry for such a long wait, but I'm afraid the muse (as well as my sanity and free time) abandoned me.I hope you forgive me and enjoy this rather awful apology of a final chapter. I'm fairly sure it could have been better, if I'd had both the time and inspiration, but unfortunately I had neither, so this was the result, I'm afraid.
> 
> I've just started uni, so as I said before, my free time has vanished. I'm not sure yet if there will be a continuation of this, though I do hope there will be. I think I'll have to see what the new season of LoT is like, and whether or not I'm both inspired, and want to include the new characters (I do like Amaya and Nate, but I miss Len and the Birds). I hope you all enjoyed this story (and sorry again for the incredibly long wait between each chapter), and we should see very soon (in about 2 days), whether or not I'm going to carry this on as a series. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who gave this fic kudos, and especially to those who took the time to leave such nice comments, that inspired me and motivated me to continue. It's people like you who encourage writers and make all the effort we put into our work worthwhile, so a big shout-out to everyone who was kind enough to leave feedback (kudos and comments) on my work.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. Kudos and comments always welcome :)


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